Personal Post: The kindness of strangers

One thing I love about traveling is that I frequently am the beneficiary of the kindness of strangers. I don't expect it because I guess I'm a little cynical about it so when it comes I am surprised and delighted.

Recently, for example, I was at Dulles Airport flying to JFK. I left the city at 3 for a 5 p.m. flight which is definitely not enough time (I now know). A little traffic, a line at Jet Blue baggage, it's 4:15, and I haven't yet cleared security. And there's still a shuttle between me and my gate. I'm told by my neighboring travelers that this shuttle comes only every 15 minutes.

Making my flight is beginning to feel like a crapshoot. While we wait (and I begin to feel a little panicked) my neighbors in line and I begin to talk. One of them, this guy in a suit, is on the same flight as me.

We fret and watch the clock together, my new suit friend and me, watching the minutes tick away as we wait in line. I finally make it through security and gather my laptop and belongings off the conveyer as quickly as I can. I turn the corner looking for my shuttle, unable to read signage in my growing panic. It's 4:30 and I'm thinking, Do not get on the wrong shuttle! "Is this the shuttle to terminal B?" I call out to the security guards standing in front of the shuttle door. They shake their heads, pointing to the sign above them, then to the shuttles further down.

I frantically scan the shuttle bays and suddenly I see the guy in the suit, standing in the door of one of them, waving at me. I raced onto the shuttle and set about collecting myself. I'm still feeling a little crazed, but my suit friend says to me, "No worries, we're gonna make the flight," and smiles.

I am relieved, and truly grateful for his kindness.