can i get a window seat?

for those of you who know me well, you know that i absolutely love to travel! last summer, i was blessed to be able to take two vacations within a few months of each other: a friend and i took our kids to sunny Los Angeles for a fun-filled 5 days, and later, i ended up in Vegas for a girls trip to celebrate a girlfriend's bday. in the midst of that, i was able to take a few short side-trips to OH to visit family, and also did some traveling for work, which, even though it required sitting in hours and hours of boring meetings, i dared not complain, as the 'all-expense paid' aspect of the deal made it all worth it! besides my current trip to the South, this summer will also be filled with a couple of trips home to OH for weddings and the like, as well as other side trips to visit friends, etc., satiating my need for new scenery and old, familiar connections.

though i don't think i ever really took having the financial means to travel for granted, i never really thought about what it would be like NOT to have that opportunity until today. Sister Margie and i spent the day at the Sterling Community Center, primarily spending time with the senior citizens that come to the facility daily for food, conversation, activities, and fellowship. attendance was low, as a good majority of the seniors were out on a 'field trip,' but we did get an opportunity to chat and share stories with the residents that stayed behind.

one resident i met was CJ. CJ is probably in his late 60s, and was a veteran, having lived and served in Japan for the Army for 12 years. after we started talking, he began asking me many questions about Chicago. Sister Margie introduced me as having come in from Chicago, and all of the seniors were fascinated by that. 'the Windy City, huh?' they said, wide-eyed, many wondering how the heck i ended up in the South, specifically Greenville! CJ and i chatted for quite a while, and he shared with me that he had taken a train thru Chicago 40+ years ago while on his way to Seattle to catch a military plane to Japan. i asked him if he had ever been back and he told me no, and we proceeded to get on the subject of travel in general. it was thru this conversation that i learned that after his stint in the military, he had worked a series of odd jobs over the next 20-30 yrs: construction, electrician work, etc. none of his jobs was ever lucrative enough to propel him into the so-called 'middle-class,' so he joined the ranks of many of the ppl who live in and around the Community Center: the working poor. over the years, he and his wife (now deceased) had made just enough money to get by and had never had enough discretionary income to travel. over the years, he had held onto the memories of the only travel that he had ever been able to do which was during his time as a soldier. he reminisced with me about attending baseball games in California on his way to Seattle, staring up at the tall buildings and the maze of Union Station in downtown Chicago, and embracing the Japanese culture for the 3 years that he spent there. as CJ shared his memories with me, he asked me how long the flight had been for me from Chicago to Greenville and he talked about the high cost of plane tickets. he told me that, in his mind, 'travel wasn't for the poor.' he could never imagine having $300 for a plane ticket, $80+/night for a hotel, and spending money, etc for a vacation. in 40+ years, he had never been out of a 100 mile radius of Greenville, South Carolina. even road trips are prohibitive, as he told me he can barely afford the $25 it takes to fill up his tank, and he doesn't drive more than 4 or 5 miles from his home in order to make it last as long as possible.

many of the seniors i chatted with had similar stories: dreams and aspirations to see the world (or, at the very least, more of the United States), but had never had the means to do so, even after 70+ years of life. something as 'simple' as running thru an airport to catch a flight to some faraway location suddenly had a bit more meaning for me, and really put my 'privilege' into perspective, as a person who at half their age had seen many places (and will see many more places) than they ever will.

last week, i was wishing and hoping for both a literal AND figurative window seat ala Erykah Badu (spent many a day singing it at the TOP of my lungs!). not only did i get my wish, but i also gained a completely different viewpoint on the blessing that recreational mobility has been in my life...and how i've truly taken it for granted.