Last night I had my first passenger, a rider to the airport, a man flying to Denver to spend thanksgiving with his brother. After I dropped him off at the South Terminal, I drove to the Main terminal and joined the waiting queue for drivers at that side of the airport. The queue was over a 100 drivers, but I have over 5000 rides with this company and they tend to give me priority out of the queue and I soon was told to drive to the pick up lot, on the way there I got a very large fare to Jarrell Texas which is about 20 miles north of Georgetown. The new housing construction has now reached out that far. Last time I was in Jarrell it was all older housing. There is an astonishing amount of new homes Jarrell!
He was a black man from New Orleans, drove a semi truck for a living. Before we even got out of the airport he had two daughters and a wife call him to check on him, much to his frustration but it was meant from love. He just felt a little smothered and took a deep breath. And laughed "Whata-ya-gonna do? Family!" "Can we stop at a gas station on the way? I need a beer!" I told him I'd stop at a gas station when we got past the I-35 construction work, it's a right mess right now with concrete barricades and lanes much too narrow.
I laughed and we had a long discussion about wives and daughters and the things men go through to support a family. He had been married for 30 years with 4 kids and me for 21 and 1 kid. We talked on many subjects and he said to me, "how are you?" I told him I was doing good. I had made my mind up to be happy even though I had no where to go for thanksgiving. I was in a great frame of mind. This isn't the first year of this, and this will change. This man was a delight of a customer to have, positive, and clearly living from a loving heart with his family. He said "you know nobody ever asks men if they are okay, we are just expected to be strong and not talk about things". "So that's what I mean when I ask how you be. I didn't mean to sound nosey". I told him about my NDE experience, my marriage and its ending. How proud I was of my daughter. I told him a lot of things I don't tell many people. I didn't share the adventures I had with Heather on three continents but I did share some spiritual gems she shared with me and he was very receptive to those nuggets.
He says to me "Sometimes we meet angels unawares, the scriptures say that... I could be your angel in this moment, or you could be mine! Nothing is accidental! I said I was aware of the scripture and I laughed. There was something in what we talked about he needed to hear, I am not sure what it was but he seemed so relieved. We weren't black or white, just two American men having a great conversation about life and all the things that people think is important but isn't. Friends and family can see you through much, and sometimes friends are closer than family.
He invited me to have thanksgiving with his family. I really appreciated the thought behind the invitation because that's what my dad used to do to single men who were friends of his, invite them over for Thanksgiving dinner. It's an American tradition in its best form. He needed to be with his daughters who he hasn't seen in a few month, but I almost took him up on it. I was preoccupied with the faulty digital map I had, it wanted me to drive through an occupied house to get the destination. The route was complete nonsense. He took my silence as a polite decline, I just can't talk when dealing a convoluted driving problem. Imagine that in a self driving car! I asked him for the street address and Google maps had a more accurate route to his daughter's house. There was another road about a mile down the road that I needed.
We found the house and he got his luggage and thanked me once again for the ride, family poured out of the front door and I made my way home. I always marvel at who gets in my car. Nothing is accidental.