Remembering San Francisco...

Driving to the airport with a cup of hot tea, that I was hoping to sip on my way to airport (I always have a cup of afternoon tea). I can't even begin to explain how excited I was just thinking about seeing my best friend, after few years, in the Denver airport. Why in Denver airport? *smiling* Well, she was on her way back home to San Francisco, after a business trip, and her connecting flight was in Denver... and so was mine. :) I actually requested the same, exact flight from Denver to San Francisco, just so I could surprise her. Just thinking about the moment we would meet made me smile...

When I was about to board the plane to Denver, I was so mentally captured by trying to visualize her; had she changed at all? It had been, after all, a few years since I had seen her. Trying to picture her was like a game, and there were so many thoughts going through my head... though mostly good ones, as I didn't want to think of any sad thoughts. Before I knew it, I was sitting by a window and looking outside... perhaps many miles above the ground, still deeply involved with my thoughts, until a voice interrupted, repeating, "Excuse me, do you have a piece of gum?"

I looked at the person who was asking, and saw a man in his thirties, sitting next to me... it's funny that I hardly noticed him before. I gave him a piece of gum, and I guess that was a form of permission for him to start a conversation, eventually questioning the purpose of my trip. At first I felt like it was an invasion to my thoughts, but soon, I was drawn into the conversation and before I knew it, I was in Denver, at the gate of my friend and I's flight... hiding behind a column, waiting for her. :)

I think everyone could tell, just by the look on my face, that something wonderful was about to happen. I was all eyes, eagerly and anxiously looking, waiting, until I could finally see her. And when I saw her, a very pure and innocent happiness suddenly captured me all over, like I couldn't fit in my own skin. She was a few steps away from the gate, but I couldn't wait any longer... and as I approached her, she saw me, and both of us were in tears.

At the end of it all, we had a wonderful time in our next flight together, and in San Francisco with her and her family. Love you Fatima!