I just spent 13 hours on a plane. I literally just walked off the runway and ran a few laps around the international airport in Seoul before my last leg and came in from the snow. It has been a long, grueling journey, but in a couple of hours, I’ll be back in a place that I love. Well, I say it’s been long and grueling, but maybe I’m being a little overdramatic. Six movies and a good seat buddy always help.
My brother and sister-in-law always joke with me about how I’ll talk to anyone. It’s yet another way that my brother and I are polar opposites. I mean, I have my introverted moments pretty regularly, but it’s hard to sit by someone for 13 hours and not even learn their name. Honestly though, it only took about five minutes for Beth and I to strike up a conversation. Seeing as how we were two white faces in a sea of Koreans that just so happen to be sharing a row was a pleasant surprise. I usually can’t even find a flight attendant that speaks English.
I thought I had a long journey ahead of me, but Beth, who is from Australia, spent the Christmas holidays in Chicago and was going to double my flight time. As a mother of two boys under the age of five, she is on the tail end of a nearly six year maternity break from work. She told me how excited she was for this “last hurray” before heading back to work, but all she could think about the whole time was her kids. It didn’t help that right across the aisle from us were two perfect angel toddlers. Disclaimer, I’m still a man, but we talked a lot about motherhood.
As we talked, I was just able to get a true picture of a mother and it was beautiful. No matter how many stories she would tell of how frustrating it could be, she always brought it back to how much they meant to her. It breaks my heart that some people don’t get that attention and love from a mother. Like Beth’s kids, I’m one of the lucky ones I guess. You moms can really make an impact. You’re literally raising up the future. That’s a huge task entrusted to you and a huge responsibility. But no matter how ill-prepared moms feel at times, good ones have this instinct that just kicks in. It was fun to see yet another picture of that today… On a 13 hour flight…
