Monday morning while I waited at the gate for my plane to board in San Antonio, I looked through suggested friends on Facebook. I clicked on one of the suggestions and saw that we had a mutual friend. The mutual friend was someone I've known since his childhood years. He and his dad lived very near our home.
In many respects, the mutual friend was a kid from a hard place. His mother was totally out of the picture. It has been several years since I've heard from him, and it was interesting that he was the mutual friend.
The flight from San Antonio to Orlando didn't seem all that long. Once I was in line to board the plane from Orlando to Washington, I was in the "A" boarding group. The guy immediately behind me and I struck up a conversation. He had flown to Orlando from Austin and had about a two-hour layover. My layover from San Antonio mirrored his.
He reportedly flies to Washington almost weekly and has lots of governmental contacts. Of course, I didn't learn that until we were in flight. Once we boarded the plane, he asked if I minded if he sat on the same row with me? We talked nonstop from take-off until landing.
Earlier, while we were waiting to board, he asked why I was going to Washington? I told him about the child welfare related legislation we wanted to support. He had an immediate interest since his son is an attorney who frequently represents child welfare cases.
I learned that the man and his wife have an empty nest. He has a son and daughter who are both out of college. He lives in Cedar Park and is in the process of remodeling a lake house on Lake LBJ.
I mentioned that I previously lived in Dripping Springs. We talked about how Drippin' has changed in the last forty years. At some point, I mentioned that our home had really been Henly, just west of Dripping Springs.
He said, I have been to Henly. I used to have a friend that lived there. He added that his friend's dad owned and operated heavy equipment and had created an incredible motocross track for his son to use. He provided me the first name of the friend, and I filled in the last name for him.
It was the same person that had been the mutual friend suggestion I saw earlier that morning. The coincidence seemed interesting.
I enjoyed the visit with the guy on the plane. We exchanged contact information before we got off the plane. Will we ever take the time to get in touch, it remains to be seen. He was someone I intuitively would like to know better.
All My Best!
Don
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