My flight from LAX to Detroit, Michigan included a layover in Houston, Texas. I sat next to a nice 58-year-old fellow named David who was apprehensive about flying.
David was on his way back from Maui, Hawaii and had two connecting flights en route to his home state Tennessee. I think he’s the first person I’ve ever spoken to from that state.
David was with his wife and 29-year-old son, and they had spent a few days in Hawaii on vacation. He also had some work to do there, as he was in the business of remodeling and selling homes. He let me know that he didn’t like using the term “refurbishing homes,” but I wasn’t aware that there was a social stigma associated with the profession.
He has only flown a dozen times and asked me about whether or not turbulence was normal. He said that he was most nervous when during landing.
He enjoys watching the news, almost exclusively FOX. He laughed that he revealed his opinion on the political spectrum, although he said that Bill O’Reilly comes off as rude and standoffish. He also said that he’ll watch MSNBC once every while to get both sides of the story. I replied that I try to watch multiple sources of news and filter out biases as best as possible.
He teased me for not being unaware of Tennessee’s city names or geography, then joked that I needed to get out into the real world. I was happy to redeem myself when he asked if I knew who George Straight was. Thank goodness for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which taught me the one and only country song I know today. All my exes live in Texas.
Nice fellow. I hope the folks there are warm and welcoming like him when I visit the national park one day.
Andy Cheng 