Friday, January 9, 2015

A name with a face (airport tour guide)

My new favorite airport is Detroit airport. I never thought I'd have a favorite airport. Until I met a tram attendant who directed me toward concourse D and he proceeded to tell me all about where I needed to go plus did I know there was a light tunnel in the airport?

 
 

No I did not!

I was enthralled, to say the least.

I'm almost positive the airport tour guide's name was Ken, Kenny maybe. I'm better with faces than names, even though I try and work on that. I love that no two faces are the same; maybe in part that is why I like meeting new people so much.

I have a secret for you.

I've always been chasing this book. Looking to attach names with faces. I'm a dreamer soul, trying to get to the bottom of things, but especially when I was young I had lots of unanswerable questions. Like, why don't we learn the name of the person at the toll booth when we pass by him or her at every holiday trip?

There are different people there each time. It's hard to get to know the toll booth man. These answers weren't enough. I figured you can't always get a name, but you can try, and if not, you can at least give a Happy Thanksgiving.

I made my dad do this to a man at the toll booth once close to Thanksgiving because he was handing the money and I would have had to yell to the toll booth man. My dad wasn't as outspoken as me with strangers and didn't like the whole "Happy Thanksgiving" idea before Thanksgiving but I think it meant a lot to Henry. I'm pretty sure his name was Henry, but if not, the story has always kept him that way. I think I've named a lot of people over the years.

Also, here's another secret. I got a strange feeling sometimes when I traveled. I'd see people in rest stops or toll booths or even families in cars passing me by, and I had this sinking feeling I'd never get to meet them. I can't explain it, but the memory of that feeling has stuck with me even as an adult when I used to logic to tell me that I can't possibly meet all the people. Which is okay.

Maybe I can pay more attention though, and if so, the Kens or Kennys (sorry if I made this up) of this world might help us see the light.

I love these meetings because they remind me it's good for the world around me to stop for a minute and to take in the scenery, to forget all the rushing.

Perhaps a busy tunnel isn't the best place to have a picture taken, or is it?

Thanks, Ken (ny)

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