Talking to strangers….
Before I began to sail thru the clouds back to Georgia, my mama told me, “don’t talk to strangers”! Anyone who knows me (even my mama), knows that is darn near impossible!! I’m writing this at the airport wondering if the shoe shine man will let me sit in his chair and talk to me instead of shine my flip flops!
If I hadn’t talked to Beth, this brave courageous woman sitting next to me, flying back from the Vineyard to DC by herself at 85, I may of not heard stories of love, heartbreak, independence and survival.
Beth sold her home on the Vineyard after her husband passed away. They spent the entire summer on the island prior to his passing and were married 50 years! She was there visiting friends this trip. A few years after her husband past, she met another gentleman. She said they were both very nice relationships and “when relationships are nice, it’s nice to be in one”. He passed away in February after a fall and she still misses him.
Beth has three children, all adopted. She said her daughters (she has two) do not have a lot in common and she wonders if they even really get along. She also wonders if it’s because they are adopted. I gave her my opinion, of course, and she listened with intent. Her son passed when he was 40 and as I can only imagine, she said it’s the one death, that is hard to get over.
If I hadn’t of met Beth, she wouldn’t have known the many things about myself and give her opinion that made me listen intently. She wouldn’t have known I am flying home to be with my family for my aunts memorial. I wouldn’t have been able to talk about death with a stranger and if, as you get older, it gets easier to loose loved ones. I often wonder.
You see my friends, despite the differences we have with others, we all have things in common and we can always use the advice of a stranger! Talk to strangers. (Ok, be a responsible stranger talker!) Listen to their stories, tell them yours! Let them lift your spirits and be sure to lift theirs. I absolutely love traveling alone!!
