Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

(Wasn't that a great movie?)

I just returned last night from a fantastic trip to Georgia for my friend Joe's wedding. Joe and I have been friends since we met as young lieutenants in the Army, nearly eight years ago. We were roommates in North Carolina and Missouri. Joe is still one of the most intelligent and funny people I know. We always joked about writing memoirs of our misadventures entitled, "It seemed like a good idea at the time." As such, I was enlisted to tape the letters H-E-L-P on the bottom of Joe's shoes prior to the ceremony. It was a request from the groom that, as an usher, I had to fulfill. No one else would touch it. Joe's incredible wife Lisa, upon seeing his shoes after the ceremony, laughed and remarked, "I would have been disappointed if you didn't try something like that!"

The weekend was also a great opportunity to spend some time with one of my best friends from the Seminary, Ted, and his wife, Sarah. It was a bit disorienting at first to see one of my friends from the Seminary outside that context. Ted and I have sweated through Greek translations, research projects and a stint as intramural co-captains over the last two years . . . but we've only known each other in that context. It was fun. Ted is doing his internship in Apharetta, Georgia, the next Atlanta suburb over from Roswell, where Lisa grew up and her parents still live. Ted and Sarah were gracious enough to pick me up from the MARTA (train) station and let me borrow a car the whole weekend. I was continually overwhelmed by hospitality this weekend: both from Ted and Sarah and from Lisa's family.

The whole wedding event was fabulous. The groom's dinner had a fiesta theme, complete with pinata (though, not filled with airplane-sized liquor bottles, per Joe's specifications). The ceremony was in a cool little chapel at the family's home church. (The pastor who performed the ceremony happened to be an Air Force Chaplain.) The reception was in an old home that had been turned into a banquet hall. The slide show, music, dinner . . . everything was really nicely done. But, the best part were the people. I only knew Joe and Lisa, Joe's sister, and the best man (Joe's friend, Matt) before the wedding. By Sunday brunch, I felt like I had known most of Lisa's family and friends for years; and, I had finally met Joe's parents! All great people.

Speaking of great people . . . I really enjoy traveling by plane, as you meet the most incredible people. On the way down, on the leg from St. Louis to Atlanta, I met a restauranteur, named Miles, living in Dallas who had graduated from Southern University and was on his way to his ninth annual fantasy football draft in Atlanta. We talked football, basketball, baseball, life and business the whole flight.

The flight home was the most unique. Sarah dropped me off at the train station at about noon. I arrived at the airport and was checked in at about 1:30 for a 3:50 flight. I figured I would ask if I could fly standby on an earlier flight, which happened to be boarding at 1:35. I got on, but was informed that my baggage would follow on my original flight. No worries, I thought, I'd rather have a three-hour layover in St. Louis than Atlanta - because I knew I could eat at Chili's (it's always Tuesday night at Chili's). On that flight, I was seated next to an Army staff sergeant, in uniform, returning to Fort Bliss, Texas, from a four-day pass at home in Tennessee. He will be deployed to Iraq in the next week. We had a great conversation about the military and chaplaincy (conversations invariably turn to religion when you let people know that you're a seminary student).

Well, I arrived in St. Louis at about 3:00, waiting on a 6:00 flight. So, off to dinner at Chili's. After talking baseball with a businessman from Texas for about 20 minutes while we ate, a woman from California, in St. Louis on business, sat down next to me. Her flight didn't leave until 7:00. We spent the next nearly-two hours in great conversation about business, school, travel, family (we even talked birth-order effect, as she's an eldest child, also), life. Great conversation. Her grandfather is a retired pastor. Sadly, 5:30 came and I had to head to my gate . . . .

I had a friend in undergrad who used to have a T-shirt with a caricature of Einstein, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, on the front. The caption read:

"Sit on a hot stove for a minute, and it feels like an hour. Talk to a beautiful woman for an hour and it feels like a minute. That's relativity."

The next conversation was equally as dynamic. I sat next to George (my granfather's name). George happens to work in finance in St. Louis, but is also a "pastor-in-training." We had a great conversation about life, faith, and infant baptism. It was challenging, uplifting, encouraging and fun. George is getting ready to travel to Haiti this winter on a mission trip, so I was able to share some insights on travel to harsher environments. It was a great flight.

This whole trip was put into perspective when I went to pick up my suitcase. When it didn't come out on the baggage carousel, I went to the lost-luggage counter. I told them where I had checked my bag (Atlanta) and where I had come from (St. Louis). To which they replied, "How did you make your flight in St. Louis? We just got a message that you should have missed your flight in St. Louis."

Huh?

Turns out, my original flight from Atlanta to St. Louis - the flight on which my bag followed - left Atlanta 1.5 hours late! Had I taken that flight, I would have arrived late to St. Louis, not had dinner at Chili's . . . not had any of the three above conversations.