342. Gate G18

When Nora was traveling alone with three of her kids (AHHH!) a stranger in the airport shared some kindness with her.

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

Nora: This is an urgent message for one man and one man only. However, I have no way of getting in touch with this man. I have no way of reaching this man. So here I am recording this, hoping that it gets to him, even though I know nothing about him other than he was a white guy in his 40s, mid to late 40s. It’s honestly hard to tell. And that he was at gate G18 on July 14th, 2024.

What did this man do that was so special? He was nice. He was nice in an airport, a really busy airport on a really, really busy day. And no, not, and he wasn’t just nice. He was nice to my kids. Traveling with children is an experience.

It’s an experience. And that is how I am choosing to describe it because there are parts of it that are so joyful and wonderful. The way that my kids are so thankful when a flight attendant brings them a snack, which they should be. But the way that they look at the flight attendant with earnestness and say, Oh my, thank you.

Oh, a Coke. Like they just. Watching the world through their eyes. is really wonderful. Also, now that they’re old enough to buckle their own seatbelts, go to the bathroom alone. Um, play a device or watch a movie for the entire flight and I am no longer sitting next to a toddler with a baby strapped to me just doling out snacks and trying to keep both of them from running out into the, what’s it called, the hallway?

No, aisle, the aisle of the airplane. Traveling with kids who are able to wipe their own butts is a game changer. And yet, travel is stressful. Travel is stressful for adults. People at airports are typically not their best selves. I’m speaking specifically to men of a certain age going through TSA who act as though TSA is targeting them personally, their demographic.

Men who like to act as though, and I’m sorry it is, I usually do see, I see it as men. Men who like to act like TSA just made up the fact that they can’t bring a handle of vodka in their carry on. Like that’s been, I believe that’s always been a rule. I’m pretty sure. Men who are like, I can’t bring two Costco bottles of head and shoulders shampoo, body wash and conditioner combo on this airplane in my carry on since when? Since 9 11, pal. Since 9 11.

Okay. I have seen adults have full meltdowns at an airport. I’ve had a meltdown at an airport. I’m not proud of it, but it’s something that happens.

My family and I. And by that I mean, me and three of our children were traveling back to Phoenix after two weeks being out of town, two weeks of my kids and myself being out of our routines, out of our elements, away from, you know, like, our stuff, the way that we typically do things. This was the last time.

day of the trip. I got everyone to our gate. Gate G18. G18. I went to Starbucks. I got a treat for our teenager. I got a treat for our 11 year old. The 7 year old wanted something weird. And guess what? The 17 year old went and got it for him. It was shaping up to be an okay time at the airport.

And then somebody, a grown man, knocked my 11 year olds full, full, expensive Starbucks drink, whatever. It was pink, but I don’t think it was the pink drink. It was just something expensive and dumb. Knocked it out of his hand onto the ground, laughed. and walked away.

And this is a sensitive child who I would like to keep a sensitive child, but my first thought was I’m going to jail. I’m going to jail tonight and I will not be flying again. I will be on the no fly list. I am. He laughed. This man laughed at you after he knocked your drink out of your hand. Did he say sorry? Did he offer to buy you another one? No. He laughed and then he just stood around the gate and the way I looked at that guy was like, Oh, buddy, I’m looking at you.

You know what you did. We finally. Get situated in our seats. I go back and get a replacement drink. I get back. The kids are sitting in their seats. They’re testing all the outlets. They’re dismayed because they didn’t charge their devices the night before. They’re actually mad at me because they didn’t charge their devices the night before.

Like I barely charged my phone the night before. I don’t know why you’re looking at me like I’m in charge. I’m 41. I’m a baby. Okay, I didn’t charge my phone. I didn’t charge your, you know, switch, whatever. They’re checking every outlet. This man, we’re going back to the beginning. This man who’s sitting across from me takes off his headphones and he says, “Hey, if the outlet is blue, it’s live and it’ll work for you.”

Thank you. We all say, thank you. Thank you. Now they’re on a hunt for blue outlets. They find one, but that means they have to share it. And I look up and I’m about to tell the kids, like, look, you’re going to have to share this outlet. One of you is going to charge it first. I’m going to pick at random. This guy takes his headphones off again.

He says, I actually have two. He offers each of them a cord for their devices. He has access to two live outlets. He unplugs his devices, plugs my kids’ devices in with his long, long chargers so they can sit in their little chair and just deet deet deet deet deet. And that’s what they do silently and quietly.

And then he offered them snacks. He had a bag of snacks in his bag. This tells me that this guy either really cares about his blood sugar and or he is a parent. I didn’t ask. I just said Thank you. This means so much to me. I think he like looked at me and was like, this is a woman on the edge. Let’s help her out.

This is a woman who could really use, uh, some help today. And he gave it to us. I don’t think that he would even remember this interaction in a million years. If he ever hears this, he’ll be like, maybe I did that. No, I don’t think so. If you know a guy who I think he was going to Atlanta. I think that was the flight that departed a Delta flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta, July 14th, 2024, gate G18.

If you know this man, tell him, thank you. I did, but I don’t think I adequately thanked him a small amount of human kindness. meant so much to me, made that day so much more bearable. Thank you. I think that’s important to remember, When we’re out there just kind of like living our lives, doing something, we can do a very small nice thing for another person, and it might have a big impact, an impact so big that that person goes home, waits a few weeks, and then sits down and records a podcast about it.

You never know. You never know. So whoever that man was at Gate G18, oh my gosh, thank you.