Traveling Joy

Good Morning. I'm writing this post as I sit in the terminal at Dulles Airport waiting for a flight to take me to All Write...I feel like John Green. (If you watch any Vlogbrothers videos, you'll get that! He often posts videos from airports.)

Traveling is not my favorite thing, certainly not traveling by plane. It stresses me out, so why did I name this post, Traveling Joy? I've been struck by people today and the joy I've seen expressed and shared.

1. The man on the phone with me at 4:00 in the morning straightening out my travel arrangements that had been drastically changed overnight. He was patient. He was kind. He was helpful. Customer service for an airline must be a difficult job and I felt like I could hear the smile in his voice as he helped me.

2. Parents traveling with young children. Oh parents, how do you do it? I was behind a mother in line with an energetic three year old girl at security, and she (the mother) was patient and smiling. There were parents with an infant and a toddler walking to the terminal. Their little girl kept lagging behind. Her eyes lit up when she saw the moving sidewalk. She jumped on. I smiled and commented to the little girl, "Boy, you're going fast now." The dad stopped, smiled at me and said, "Thank you". JOY while traveling with young children...I don't know how they do it.

3. The woman working at the burger place in the terminal. All I wanted to eat was a plain bagel. Au Bon Pan was out, so I walked across the hall to the burger place that was serving breakfast. I ordered a plain bagel, not toasted. The woman smiled at me and quietly suggested that I go across the way and get it. She showed me such kindness in helping me. She got my business.

4. As I sat and nibbled on my bagel, I heard a loud voice. It was coming from a store that sells electronics and the man who worked there was one of those guys...you know, one of those people who LOVES their job. He was animated and friendly and funny!

5. Finally, I started to gather my trash to throw away and move towards my gate, as a woman pushing a trash can walked over to me, smiled and motioned for me to throw away my trash. She brought the trash can to me. She had a lovely smile on her face.

There's so many lessons to learn from these interactions. JOY can be found anywhere. Be open. Look for it. Be ready to accept it. I'm sure there will be some bumps on the trip, but today...traveling's not so bad.

Thank you to the Two Writing Teachers for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it.

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