Interludes

"Are you South African?"

 "Yes. Could you tell from my accent?"

A big smile. "No, I saw your passport."

I looked down at my passport, which I had placed on the table. Sitting opposite me in an airport lounge in Dubai was a little girl with a pink coat and boots.  Her hair was swept back from her face and she wore big red glasses. 

"I'm Nigerian", she proudly told me, "but I live in Los Angeles".

"Were you in Dubai on holiday?" I asked, and so began a chat and many questions. How long did it take for the lift to reach the lookout point in the Burj Khalifa? She had seen the tower but not been up it. She did not like going so high. She did not like take off and landing when flying either. Actually, she declared, with distinct wisdom beyond her years, it was not so much a case of likes and dislikes but more a matter of what she feared. 

I told her that when the plane took off that day she should think about how cool it was that she was travelling so fast. I would think of her during take off.  Would she think of me? Another big grin and a big nod, followed by yet another big smile when I told her her glasses suited her face. 

The fourth child of five children, she was born in Chicago, now lived in Los Angeles and was in the sixth grade. Her favorite subject at school was, "Mmm, Science. Yes, Science". 

As it turned out we were on the same flight. Unfortunately, sleep got the better of me the minute I was settled on board (it was 2 o'clock in the morning!) and I did not even realize we had taken off! When I woke I realized I had not thought of my little friend as I had said I would. Whether she had thought of me and maybe faced one of her fears in a different way I do not know. I did however, during the course of my journey, send her love and light and wish her joy. 

In Frankfurt we passed each other briefly and waved goodbye. 

A seven hour layover in Frankfurt before our flight to Calgary gave me more than enough time to catch up on emails, check in on Twitter and post one photo on Instagram. I instant messaged with my one daughter eagerly awaiting our arrival in Canada, and Skyped with the other who was looking after some children for the day in South Africa. I had not met these children before but they too participated in the conversation and were fascinated when I took my iPad to the window and showed them all the planes coming and going on a busy Frankfurt airport. 

It was turning out to be a day of interludes - happenings in-between the main events. 

On our way to our connecting flight I stopped off to get something in the duty free shop. Standing next to me in the queue and in front of a shelf was a young man holding a box of chocolates and an exquisite pottery jar with a lid covered by a material cloth. 

Perhaps he saw me gazing in admiration at the jar, because the next minute he looked at me and said, "Excuse me, do you speak German?".  My affirmative reply resulted in me having to tell him what was in the jar. Reading the label I could tell him that it was a delicate mustard made in a monastery in Germany. Oh no, he did not want mustard and the jar was replaced on the shelf.

"Do you live in Germany?"

"No, in Dubai but I am originally from South Africa. And you?"

"I am from Kazakhstan but have just been to Vienna on a conference for law students. There were 1500 student from different universities all over the world attending."

"How interesting and great to meet so many different people. Kazakhstan! And your accent?"

"I studied law in the US for four years, picked up the accent while there and funnily enough have never lost it". 

At this point it was time for me to pay, but while I was paying he told me he had picked up a few German phrases while in Vienna, such as Gruess Gott. I told him that that was also a common form of greeting in Bavaria where we had lived and that it actually means I greet the God in you. Oh, that was interesting.

Till slip in hand, it was time to part ways. We wished each other a good flight and I walked away feeling pleased to have met him. 

People tell me that strangers often talk to me. Over the years I have come to see this as something special for which I am grateful. We make so many plans, but most often it is the unexpected happenings in between that are the ones we most remember.

For the next while I will be in Red Deer in Alberta, Canada.  After traveling for twenty four-hours I have gone back ten hours in time and have arrived on the same day on which I departed. My body-clock is adjusting. I am perhaps physically closer than usual to many of you reading this and for the next while might even be sharing the same time zone. 

The architecture of online space, however, allows us to be always close in a special way. Its design is such that interludes are encouraged. Time and space are no barriers to here2here encounters.  Invisible connections are being made every time we make the effort to connect with another. The web of relationships is growing and bonds are being strengthened.  At the heart of this all is the realization of interconnectedness and the need for compassion for self and other in the world we find ourselves in today. 

Next time you enter a social media site, stop for a moment or two beforehand and become mindful of what you are doing. This awareness could alter your way of interacting and provide the gap for an interlude and the mystery of creation!