Humans of Tampa Bay: Yellow Fan Man

I was thinking this week how I often can take life too seriously. I was also thinking that for years, I somehow run into or observe some of the strangest people that ever lived.

Not sure how these things fit together, but sometimes I laugh out loud at things I see and I think, now that's funny! Working on a college campus definitely adds to the chance of some hilarious human sightings. 

My friend Renee and my other friend Carrie Cam also have these run ins. Over the years we have met Ben Franklin on a train in Boston, Mona Lisa at a pita place in Tallahassee, a hilarious grape expert that probably thought he was Italian at Publix and really, the list goes on.

I've decided, since life is too serious sometimes, I will now be posting some of these "Humans of Tampa Bay" sightings as a blog segment, for everyone's enjoyment and for a hearty outburst of laughter that makes your eyes glisten and your sides hurt. 

Yellow Fan Man: 

Meet Yellow Fan Man. As I sat in Starbucks, working at the community table, I thought,  "this guy is a character." He looks 30ish, but is wearing a "Will work for Beer" shirt.  As our "stuck between a college student and an adult" friend sipped his latte, he must have felt a little warm, because all of a sudden he whipped out a portable yellow fan to cool himself. My cousin Sandy said he must have been going through manopause.  

This Blog brought to you by the upgraded Samsung Galaxy phone, that now has the silent shutter feature, allowing me to be a bit creeperish and capture this picture without being noticed. 

The Top Ten Things I Remembered This Week that I Love about the Midwest

10. Very few places in the world offer the 95% probability of meeting someone that knows the one friend you have from that one small town off of I-80.

9. Yes, there really are places where people are as wholesome and as good as they seem.

8.  Where the local girls softball team is the talk of a whole airport terminal.

7. The celebration of different anglo cultures is an important topic of conversation, especially as one discusses the difference between Dutch, Swedish and Czech festivals. And how about those Tractors in Parades!

6. You can't beat a midwest church potluck! Casseroles galore and homemade desserts for everyone!

5. Slower pace of life sometimes makes you appreciate the things that actually matter.*

4. Who knew Farmer's markets could span over multiple mile blocks, putting all other attempts at a Farmer's market to shame?**

3. Seasons exist! Tulips blooming in spring and the celebration of winter's end can only make you smile! ***

2. No southern pretenses, but a definite understanding that you are immediately family by proximity.

1. When your dear heart friends live or come from here,  it makes life richer and more blessed.

This Blog inspired by The Moores in Des Moines and the Poferjes of Pella.

*This excludes slow midwest drivers. I don't miss this. Not even a little bit. Nope, not at all.

**Except the metal working man that sold me a metal basket that I thought he made. Turns out he forgot to cut the tag off that said "Made in China." He must be from somewhere besides the Midwest.

***Unless you are the grumpy Dutch lady working in the Tulip Time office on Tulip Festival day. She must be a disgruntled Czech trapped in a Dutch town.

A Flock of Birds and A Chance Meeting

Boarding my connecting flight in Dallas, I made my way past my boss' seat and two other people going to the same conference as myself on how to train new staff.  Row 18..row 20...row 21. 21D. I take a deep breath. I put my red carry-on suitcase into the compartment overhead, sit down, buckle up and try not to focus on the last experience I had on a plane. I decide to take the inevitable risk of saying hi  to the person next to me, hoping to get my mind off myself. For the first time I look over and I actually take note and evaluate the state of the blonde lady in the window seat, and realize she looks a little like I feel.

"Hi. I'm Rachel. Are you ok?" (I try saying this without being offensive, as I notice her puffy red eyes with smeared blue eyeliner and disheveled hair.)

"No. No, I'm really not! Ive had the worst day," said my window seat companion with a panic in her eye.

"What happened?" 

At this point she starts waving her hands like she's having a hot flash and says, "my first plane caught on fire and we had an emergency landing. I was sitting next to the engine, I look out my window and I see a flock of birds fly into the engine." She gasps a little as the plane we are on revs up. "I can't do this! I can't do this," she says. 

"Wait what?!"

"On the first plane, I saw the flames and I smelled that awful smell, and smoke came through the cabin...and the air masks..and I texted my husband "I love you..I love you" over and over...Oh, I shouldn't be on this plane. But I've been waiting for 5 hours to fly to see my best friend in Colorado." She quickly closes the shade as our plane moves faster.

"What! That is crazy," I exclaim. "How are you feeling? You are brave to get on a second flight today," I say.  At this point, I ask a few more questions about what happened, but quickly realize that she may have a repeat of my own anxiety attack a month earlier if we continue to talk about the emergency landing. So, for a few minutes I try to calm her down. I ask about her kids, her husband and how they met. This seems to work. She shows me pictures on her phone. 

But after a few minutes, when the plane is still bouncing as it comes to altitude, I realize she is still not doing great. "I'm such a mess! I know its a hard story to believe! I'm sorry you have to sit next to me," she weakly smiles.

"Hey, Melissa...Can I tell you something? A month ago, I was on a plane, and had an anxiety attack, that I thought was a heart attack. So I kinda get it! And I've been nervous to fly on this plane too, because I've been wondering if I might have another anxiety episode."Would it be ok if I pray for us?"

At this Melissa grabs my hand dramatically and immediately bows her head with determination. Then she looks up, "I knew you were a Christan. Ok. Go!" She returns to prayer state. I say a quick prayer and then we continue talking.

I find out she has two kids, that her and her husband were high school sweethearts, that she's mad at the airline for not doing anything when all that happened earlier. I learn that she lives in Houston and has a new ATV that is bumblebee yellow--"to match my hair as it bounces in the wind." 

Then she asks the inevitable question. "Are you married? Do you have kids?" I tell her no, and she says "Don't worry, don't worry. I just know this is going to happen for you! You have a good heart. This is going to happen. You will get married, don't worry. Don't settle, but don't worry. You have a good heart." She repeats this probably 5 time throughout the remainder of our flight.  

After a little while,  she pulls out a encyclopedia size book, and shows it to me. "Actually I have this children's Bible that I borrowed from my son. I started this morning and because its been such a terrible day, I read from Genesis to Zephaniah." 

"You read all of this today?" I ask! 

"Yes! Its been a pretty stressful day! Did you know Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible? I didn't know that, but that's amazing to me. I want to read the real Bible someday, but don't know where to start."

 At this point, I get to share a Bible reading plan with her and she's so excited! "Yes! A Bible reading plan. You and I were suppose to sit next to eachother," she exclaims. And then "You wait for the right one, honey. You have a good heart. I know you won't be single forever."

I laugh to myself at how random and awesome this lady is.

By the end of it, I had a new friend in Texas, a place to stay if I ever come, food to eat that she will cookout for me, and a free pass to ride the yellow ATV, which "also will look great with your hair color, honey." She gave me a hug, thanked me, exchanged emails and numbers, and walked away as my director stared incredulously with wonder on his face. He said "Let me guess.." 

I interrupted and said "There is no way you will figure out what just happened. Its a CRAZY story."

As I walked out of the airport, I thought about how thankful I was that these things happen in life. When you bump into someone's life with your own, and you have an encounter that makes you friends, even for a moment, that's a real look into humanity. That somehow, ordained by God's sovereignty, I sat next to a lady on a plane who was in a worse state than I was, and helped me with my anxiety as I helped calm hers. That I could pass on a tool that's helped me in reading the Bible, and help her. That I was welcomed and loved by a random lady in the midst of something I was really nervous about. Really, it was God helping both of us. Its like this quote:

"Along the way you bump into people who make a dent on your life."~The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Thanks to my airplane friend, that dent was actually not a dent at all, but a blessing. 

This Blog brought to you by the ATV dealers of Texas and a God who knows the combined number of blonde hairs located in American Air flight, Row 21, where two random friends met one day in April.

Gym Day #2: Funny Scenarios

This week my mom told me about how she saw a lady in her yoga class struggling and she thought "poor lady." Then at the end of her workout, she put her glasses on and realized it was a mirror and the lady was her.

This made me laugh really hard and I reminded myself that at the gym, laughing is a must.


With this in mind, I go to my second complimentary session with a Personal Trainer at the gym which I just joined last week.. Brian (the PT guy) makes me do jumping jacks, some kinda of wierd seal jumping jacks where I had the urge to bark like a sea lion loudly, lunges, and other shenannigans. As Brian goes on to teach me about some wierd pull ups, things start to get fuzzy. I am hearing him and thinking, this is wierd.  And then they get really fuzzy, and I start to get dizzy. He's explaining, I'm trying hard to focus and then I say something to the affect of "uh..i think I'm going to pass out." Brian makes me sit down as I refocus and drink some water. Feeling defeated a little, I have the urge to run out. But, I stay drink my water, and force myself to listen to Brian tell me about the new dog his wife and He got this week.

At this point, I think I've passed out because I see something that only could happen in an unconcious state. I see a middle aged asian man jump from the floor to a platform about 5 feet off the ground. Then I realize, I have not passed out and this guy legitally is jumping from platform to platform made of excercise balls and mats, combined with a slack line. huh. interesting. He looks like he should be in the Cirque de Chine in Dollywood.

At this point, I continue the work out and finish with victory flags. We'll see if anything happens Friday when I try it again.

This Blog brought to you by my mom's rendition of the Michael Jackson classic "Man in the Mirror."