DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
If you spend enough time with folks you can get to know them pretty well, make it a stressful scenario and it happens a sight quicker. We get to find out who the chunks of coal are and who’s gonna end up the sparkling diamond in the rough.
My wife and I wanted to beat the rush hour in the California metropolis, so we got an early 5:30 am head start. The traffic was indeed ugly, and that’s being generous and an understatement… or lacking prose…
Even after being pushed through the screening and baggage X-ray machines like cattle being led to slaughter, we were still an hour and forty-five minutes early for our 10:40 flight back to the desert. The gate was a ghost town, I guess you gotta show up that early to sit in the cushy oversized seats with their own plug-ins in the face off the big oversized arms on the leather chairs.
Slowly but surely, time, which usually sails by at the speed of light, passed like filling a barrel of water with one drop of water from a leaky faucet that’s not quite ready to be repaired yet. The other passengers trickled in like the annoying drops.
A girl in her late teens with a cough you could almost see the germs scatter from talked non-stop on her cell phone, alternating between giving her mom and boyfriend minute by minute updates between her hack attacks from the chair next to me.
A tall couple, probably late thirties, early forties, were casually dressed but couldn’t hide their urban professional reserved demeanor.
A mom, daughter, and granddaughter sat across from us. I couldn’t understand them but that didn’t keep the two-year-old from wiping her grimy little paws all over my water bottle that was lying horizontally across the top of my suitcase, lodged in place by the handle. The mom talked in a language that wasn’t remotely familiar to me, trying to control the whirlwind of a child, but to no avail.
Another mom pushing her daughter in a stroller packed in and brought the max amount of humans, bags, and buggies that could be fit into our already crowded aisle. The little girl in the stroller had a video game designed to keep her entertained. It worked. the Disney song played as she played, chorus only, over and over and over…
After the third flight delay and three hours later, the Disney tune was beginning to make my right eye twitch… All the elements were in place and began to overwhelm me, and that’s when the coal started to show through my calm and cool facade.
“They’re lying!” I said to my wife with clear agitation in my voice, and not caring who around me heard it.
I know from past experience that this particular airline cancels flights when they have two scheduled close to one another with the same destination and are able to fit most of the passengers on just one of them.
As soon as I spoke in my coal covered voice something special happened in the process. The little girl quit playing her video game and started talking to me. The tall yuppie husband made pretend glasses out of some wire, then transformed them into a hat to entertain the little girl. We all began to genuinely take an interest in one another. My wife offered to get food or water for the elderly lady parked at the end of our aisle in her wheelchair.
By the time the five hours and a couple more delays passed we were chatting like long lost friends, and when the mad, mad, mad, mad, dash to the other gate was announced, my wife wheeled the lady in the wheelchair at warp speed, inadvertently running over a few toes in the process. “Keep your arms in!” my wife ordered as the elderly lady’s gray locks blew in the breeze.
I wonder why it is we dread things beyond our control, knowing they usually turn out for the best?
I checked the mirror in the restroom when we finally got to Phoenix… Not a twinkle in sight…
Thomas Mason
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 8:24 am
Nice story, Floyd. For me, at least, not feeling I am in control of a situation makes me anxious and uneasy. Being an introvert I have difficulty speaking too loudly in public. It’s something I don’t typically do. If you hadn’t broken the ice, so to speak, you wouldn’t have discovered the reality that we are all human, annoyances and all, who just want to know that we matter in this crazy, mixed-up world.
Floyd
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 5:30 pm
I hear you, Thomas, everyone likes to have a voice and know they matter. The whole scenario made me think of them and theirs as well. I generally stay as quiet as a mouse in that setting, but once I start, it’s like opening Pandora’s box! Thanks, Thomas.
Chuck Allen
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 11:01 am
Great story! I know that feeling. Especially when it just hits a boiling point. And, by the way, I definitely see some twinkling shine through from your writing. Don’t be too hard on yourself. 🙂
Floyd
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 5:31 pm
Thanks, Chuck. There could be a twinkle, after all, our Savior lives within us, right! I appreciate it, Chuck. And thanks for making me smile!
Lisa notes
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 11:03 am
Love this story, Floyd. We’ve all been there. Locked in a room (of sorts) of strangers, only to become allies in the end. That human touch can’t be subverted for long.
“I wonder why it is we dread things beyond our control, knowing they usually turn out for the best?” I don’t know either. I heard a great quote today: “Live life as though everything is rigged in your favor.” – Rumi. Because ultimately, we know it is.
Floyd
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 5:32 pm
Ooooo, I like that quote! Good call, because indeed it is! Thanks, Lisa, and for sharing that nugget of wisdom!
Dolly@Soulstops
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 12:59 pm
Floyd,
Wonderful story…and I can relate to the waiting and waiting….love how your day turned to bright as the spark of humanity and community came through and lit up all around you…and you got a good post out of the experience 🙂
Floyd
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 5:34 pm
Thanks, Dolly. Good call, in the end I gained something and got a simple story to tell to boot! I wish I had more space to expound on my wife pushing the lady like it was her mom, it was too funny! Not to mention they treated us as family at the other gate and let us board with her!
David
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 2:34 pm
I am definitely guilty of dreading what I have no control over. Sadly, sometimes to the point of lashing out at those who have no more control over that situation than I do. Sadder still, being introverted like Thomas, I would most likely just dig deeper into myself and hang out in my private little mental cubicle while I waited for my plane or whatever. I may eventually join the group and participate but it would most likely be because someone else drew me in not because of my own initiative.
I know, it’s almost tragic the way we cut ourselves off. God intended us for community, we will more likely thrive in a community than hanging out on our self-made desert island …
Floyd
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 5:38 pm
You expressed that so well, David! “Our self-made desert island.” It is an odd thing that we sentence ourselves to that place within ourselves, knowing that everybody else is more like us than not! Once we got on the plane it was delayed again and the lady with the little girl that was listening to Disney came back to where we were sitting to chat and told us her daughter asked, “Hey, where did our friends go?” Leave it to kids to teach us a proper perspective… Thanks a ton, David. I too need to work on community in a big way. Glad to know I’m not alone!
Lynn Morrissey
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 5:47 pm
Floyd, you always spin such a good true yarn! I really enjoyed this, and what a difference an attitude and a little time to get to know people make. You really turned things around. This reminds me of a great broadcast I heard on Focus on the Family recently delivered by John Maxwell. I only caught snippets, but the gist is that he was with a bunch of passengers in an airport (or maybe they were on the plane and it had been delayed –not sure)…..anyway, they were not going anywhere, and everyone was completely disgruntled. He singlehandedly got them to change their moods by being friendly, buying everyone pizza, and listening to their stories. It’s a two-part broadcast here: http://www.focusonthefamily.com/radio.aspx?ID=%7B45D1E615-AB6E-4219-B14D-0E278124AEE9%7D
Next time I get peeved in an aiport, I will think of you and John!
Blessings,
Lynn
Floyd
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 8:09 pm
It’s all about perspective isn’t it? But knowing it isn’t the same as living it. I’m trying to live the life we’re called to. I tend to want to make up my itinerary in life… some of us are slower learners than others… Thanks, Lynn. I’ll check out that podcast.
June
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 6:29 pm
No twinkle? I have to disagree with you there, brother! Your comment may have been born out of frustration, but God used it to impact a group of strangers. Who knows what seeds your, and your wife’s ensuing kindness planted? Not to mention how the experience impacted your own life.
Loved this line, “passed like filling a barrel of water with one drop of water from a leaky faucet that’s not quite ready to be repaired yet” No lack of prose there! Have a blessed week!
Floyd
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 8:13 pm
Thanks so much, June. You have a way of lighting up a page with your heart, sister! I imagine that your the same in a room! There are lessons everywhere, everyday, it just takes a little string pulling from Upstairs to get them to dawn on some of us! Blessings to and on you, June.
Hazel Moon
Monday, July 21, 2014 @ 9:31 pm
Sound to me like someone was not telling the truth! For the money saving sake of the airline that is probably what they did. At least you all were able to be friendly during the wait. Take another look in that mirror, there must be a glimmer of a sparkle there.
Floyd
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 @ 7:30 pm
I’m with you, Hazel! If it walks and quacks like a duck, it’s a good bet that it’s a duck! Oh well, another lesson I need to keep relearning I suppose. I’ll look again for that sparkle, Hazel, but it’s harder than finding Waldo! Thanks, Hazel.
Pam
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 @ 3:11 am
Oh my, Floyd! You sure have a way with words. You painted a picture that had me chuckling on one hand and saying, “Ouch” on the other as my own toes got stepped on in the telling. Great writing, my friend!
Floyd
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 @ 7:31 pm
Thanks, Pam. It could have been worse, you could have been one of the pairs of toes my wife ran over with the wheelchair at fifteen miles an hour! Funny how the lessons we learn always seem to require a refresher course…
Rick Dawson
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 @ 4:19 am
While I’m not certain which airline it would have been (though I have a pretty good guess, having worked in the industry for years), I know the faces, and the voices, of every passenger who did their best to make me feel the delay was my fault. Fortunately, I can still do that math without having to take my shoes off because only the really irritating ones made it into the memory banks… though there were times I thought I’d ingested enough irritant to turn out pearls by the strand, that turns out not to be the case. I’ve seen the scene you described more times than I care to count – and the passengers who went out of their way to help lighten the load for everyone else were not only blessings to me, as the luckless gate agent, but they also were the recipients of any perks I could pass on.
Good tale, told well – another hallmark Floyd story. 🙂
Floyd
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 @ 7:35 pm
Boy, that’s the age old story and adage, huh? You catch more bees with honey than you do vinegar… It’s all about perspective and I’m trying to work on mine. It is our amazing gift of free will that is so much bigger than we really grasp I think. I don’t blame you for not wanting to be in that business anymore, it seems to bring out the worst in most of us. Thanks for the kind words, my friend. You need to lighten a bit, hope this helped.
Lincoln Parks
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 @ 5:31 am
What a great message Floyd. I laughed reading this because I could imagine myself just sitting there as this was all going on around me. I think I might have jumped up and done 100 meter sprints in the aisle. However, it just goes to show what a little engagement can do for everyone. We are in such a world where communication with each other seems forbidden, but it cures all. We all have so many different stories.
Floyd
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 @ 7:39 pm
I hear you, Lincoln. In the end we’re all so much more alike than we are different, that’s why hearing other’s stories are so relatable I think. You’d have been proud of my wife, she out sprinted all of us, I couldn’t keep up dragging the four bags with the ones on top falling off the sides… I’m telling you, that security camera would have been a hoot to watch!
The older I get the more I realize it really is all about communication, seeking to understand and empathize before seeking to be understood. I’m not there yet, but with each of of these lessons I get a little better. Thanks, Lincoln.
Betty Draper
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 @ 2:42 pm
Great story, a good lesson for all of us who read to turn a frustrating situation into a positive. Sometimes we wives have great discernment and if a husband is wise he will jump on her wisdom wagon. It’s not about the twinkle in our eye, it’s about leaving others something different to see life through. They recognize the flesh for it lives in all of us…no exception. We who read your words see the twinkle in them…hindsight turned into insight. As for airports, you should try waiting on a grass air strip in the jungle for hours with over clouded skies, you can hear the little single engine plane but they can’t land due to weather…the sounds gets weaker and weaker and then total silence. soon you hear the pilot come up on your short wave radio, not today, sorry, I’ll try tomorrow. I don’t miss the third world airports or even those jungle air strips but I so miss what they represent, people hungry for truth, a chance to show them how Christ handles disappointments. I wish I could take back the times I did not handle those frustration like Him yet I am thankful at the same time that He gives me another chance to deal with it again, and again, and again. He taught me to live expecting the unexpected in many airport, on many airlines. And here I sit in good old American with tons of eating places, stores to shop in, hotel to get a room in when the unexpected happens. Frustration knows no country loyalty…is not picky who carries it, it comes to all. Yet our God only wants to show us our frailness so we depend on Him in the best and the worst. If you ever think about taking a mission trip I can suggest a few interesting airports or landing strips that will add to you list of airline experiences. Thanks for your honest post brother, as always you added your writing skill that brought us right there to the airport waiting with you.
Floyd
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 @ 7:45 pm
“Frustration knows no country loyalty.” Wow… That is so profound and wise, Betty. And if that weren’t enough, “Hindsight turned into insight.” I know I’ve said it before, but “Wise Hearted” is so appropriate for you and I know you came by it the honest way, the old fashioned way, that seems to be the way the lesson stick with us more.
I agree completely with your assessment of how our wives have the insight first if we’d only follow suit. I’m getting better, still no twinkle, except for the One living within that sometimes sparkles in my eye. I’m honored and blessed to have Him.
Bless you, dear sister. You’re humility and wisdom are wonderful gifts.
Micah
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 @ 1:17 am
This is so cool, man. I was chuckling throughout as I read, mostly because I could see so much of myself in it. Especially the twitchy eye. I don’t do waiting and delays well at all. It’s so true what you say though, when we allow ourselves to stop focusing on where we’ve got to get to and just… be, it makes life so much more fun. It’s something I’m trying to practice more (with difficulty) but on the occasions I’ve managed to let myself chill out I’ve gotten way more out of the experience. I’m not getting any better at handling delays yet though, even though I’ve been seeing the fruits of doing so. But I’m trusting with time my patience will get better and I’ll learn to make the most of every circumstance in which I find myself unexpectedly having to wait.
Floyd
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 @ 7:17 pm
It is a test, isn’t it? I fail more often than not, but our gift of free will extends to all things in life, not just the most important One of choosing to believe. If every experience in life is an opportunity to really enjoy, learn, and grow in wisdom and faith, then we’re really missing out on the best gifts our Father has given us! I’m in it with you, my friend! Thanks, Micah.
Ceil
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 @ 8:47 am
Hi Floyd! Oh, I’m sure there was a twinkle there. Maybe you had to look another second or two…
I’m sorry for your delayed travel plans, which are never fun. But what you experienced! What a lesson in community, and in love. I think God creates those ‘pressure situations’ so that we are pressed and crushed to make that diamond. It sure happened here!
Blessings,
Ceil
Floyd
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 @ 7:25 pm
Well said, Ceil! I think you’re right, it is precisely those situations that are our opportunities to grow in all ways. I usually fail, but kids have a way of bringing out the best in folks, I think. Me anyway. Thanks, Ceil.
Sharon
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 @ 1:57 pm
Oh Floyd, I loved this. I pictured every single one of those people in the terminal with you and your wife. And I felt in my soul every single annoying moment. And yet, there you go, what seems true so often has a way of turning out so differently than expected. This week I talked about wanting a Cinderella God, a God who does my desires my way. (This would be the *coal* version of life!). And then, as I wrote, I realized that what I really want is God, the real God, the untamable and unpredictable God. (This would be the *diamond* version!)
You have talked about much the same thing. Wanting control in our lives, we so often settle for something so much less than what God has planned. Things work out when we yield…
GOD BLESS!
(For the record, I think He just might be the only One who twinkles! Me, I’m grimy and sooty…)
Floyd
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 @ 7:28 pm
You have a way of making my heart and mouth smile, Sharon. Not to mention that you’ve much wisdom, sister. I’m in agreement, He is the Power behind the sun, Twinkle indeed!!! Thanks so much for Sharing, Sharon. Hey, look, your site must be in my subconscious!
Barb Raveling
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 @ 5:39 pm
I loved that story, Floyd – so descriptive, I could practically see the people in the waiting room and enjoy your whole experience with you – so fun to read! And so cool that you all got to know each other!
Floyd
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 @ 7:28 pm
Thanks, Barb, but by the grace of God, sister. But you already know that grace! Thanks, Barb.
Dan Black
Thursday, July 31, 2014 @ 8:14 am
What a great description Floyd! It’s amazing the people we come across and to be able to see the behavior they have during those type of situations. The true colors of someone come out. Great post!
Floyd
Thursday, July 31, 2014 @ 7:03 pm
Thanks, Dan. Another lesson in life… wonder if I’ll ever learn it permanently?
Dan Black
Friday, August 1, 2014 @ 2:56 pm
I hear you about that, I feel the same way:)