File this under "Interesting Encounters."

One of the great things about my job, is the people that you meet, the friendships that you make, and what we get to see on a daily basis.

Aaahhh... the people that we meet. Not just coworkers... So I have a few stories here.

This is 2 stories in 1, but they dovetail together nicely...

So I am in Cleveland. We have landed a little bit early, since the weather is nice, and I went to the gate to check for trip trades, etc. (This is really common... if your schedule is at the mercy of someone else, you will really find ways to make your life better, even if it means swapping all of your flying around, so that it works better for you, your family, it is worth more for the same amount of time of being gone, etc...) As I was coming back down the jetbridge, There was a little back-up getting on the plane. There were 2 young ladies getting on the flight; big backpacks, etc. I chatted them up (hard to imagine me doing that!) As it turns out, they are college girls, but they are on their way to Lebanon (if I remember right,) to do some charity work there as missionaries. They work using art with handicapped children. How cool is that? They get physically and mentally handicapped children to express what they are thinking through painting and sculpture, and they use that as part of their therapy. This is just cool stuff all around.

So they were talking about the airplane, and how smallll it is, etc, and I invited them to come up and visit before we left, in the flight deck. (Ours is small, after all. Not really a flight deck, per se... more like a flight step.

So they came up, and got a kick out of how complicated everything is, and all the pretty colors, etc, but it was a fun visit.

When we got into Chicago, they were in the terminal as we exited the airplane, so we started chatting again. They had decided, when they were going to travel, that they wanted to make more of an adventure of the trip, so they had read some travel books together, and they did find one thing that they wanted to do.

Here we go to part 2---

I had to fly through DFW a few weeks later. I was "Deadheading," which means I was just being moved from DFW to ORD so that I could get back after being stuck somewhere. I stopped at Mickey D's on my way down, and on the jetbridge, the lady in front of me also had stopped at the same place (most likely... highly unlikely she was carrying her french fries all the way from off the airport...)

We exchanged pleasantries, and then we were boarding. As I got to my row, and my seat, the gal from the jetbridge was sitting in the window seat, and I had the aisle seat.

• Just so you know, that has NEVER happened, in 22 years of airline work. I've gone down hundreds of jetbridges, taken hundreds (literally, no joke) of flights as a passenger, and I have never ended up next to the person I was chatting with on the jetbridge.

So, I sat down, and we continued chatting about McDonald's, etc. I asked her if she wanted to have a little fun, and she said "sure!," so I raised my voice to 'slightly obnoxious' level, and stated "Oh, I see you also ordered your McDonald's through American Airline's website. Isn't that great! What great service, and a great idea." We had a good 20 or so people looking at us, and I kind of wonder how many tried to find that link.

We had a good flight to ORD. Believe it or not, I don't talk the ears off of the person next to me when we fly. Many many of our fellow passengers are on business, and the last thing they want when they need a nap is someone blabbing on and on and on. She wanted to chat, so I am usually up for that (also hard to believe!)

So, come to find out--- We grew up about 6 blocks from each other. She was on the other side of Hometown, in Oak Lawn. I went to Catholic school, she went to public schools. We knew a bunch of the same people, and, of course, all the same locations, etc.. etc...

She had an amazing story. She had been hit by a car at an intersection, flown through the air, and landed on her head. She had extensive brain trauma, some of which she was/is still coping with. She was in Northwestern Memorial at the same time that I was there for my little problem 3 years ago. She was flying home from Dallas, where a company had finally taken a chance on her, and she was loving being back at work (you don't know what you've got till it's gone...) She was down there for training, and was headed home. She still suffered some problems, but she was coping well. The rest of her life was not, though.

She had finally realized that she was not living her dreams... nearly dying can focus that for you pretty well. We talked about that, and I tried to encourage her to seek some of those out; Not totally throw her life into the trash heap and start over, but find the things that motivated her the most, the she loved doing the most, and find ways to bring those closer into her life. Because... I am lucky enough to be living my dream.

Here is where they come together...

So I am talking with these 2 girls in the airport in Chicago, and they tell me that they wanted me to be the first for something for them. So they tell me that in one of the books that they had read, this man who was traveling the world, had a pouch of dominoes, that he had written sayings upon, and he was randomly giving them out to people that he met, but had impacted his travels. So these 2 wanted me to be the first person who got a domino.

I was floored... How very cool!

So they opened up the pouch, and I pulled out a domino. On it, it said "Live Your Dreams." I remember thinking how great that was, because I am living my dreams! So, we parted ways, and they went to the Middle East, and hopefully they had a great adventure....

So I am sitting next to this girl on this flight from DFW... and she is talking about how she has wanted to try to live her dreams, and maybe now she finally can, and I realize----

I still have the domino in my jacket pocket.

... And I realize something else....

I tell her (her name is Andrea,) that I have some thing for her. I tell her the story of meeting these 2 girls on the jetbridge, etc, and everything else. When I get to the part of taking the domino out, I pull the domino out of my jacket, and show it to her. She reads it out loud "Live Your Dreams." She smiles at me, and I said "Andrea, this was not for me. I am living my dreams... there are no coincidences. I picked this domino, because I am supposed to give it to you. I am just the currier. This was meant for you." And I handed her the domino. When we got off the airplane, she said that is probably one of the nicest things anyone had ever given her. I told her I hope she gets many more and nicer things, but she has a little reminder that maybe she should be living her dreams, at least a little bit.

I hope she is living her dreams... even just a little.