The Airport
By: Sandeep Panigrahy
Tags: Travel, Airports, Friends, Human Behavior, Colorado

What do we feel instantly when things don’t seem go our way? There is a high possibility that we might lose our calm, we might think about our bad luck, or even start getting negative thoughts. In brief, we tend to lose our positive state.

Something similar happened to me when after a beautiful weekend, things seemed going down on Sunday afternoon.

Few hours earlier..

Sundays are destined to dwell in the disappointments or happiness of past Saturday evening and preparation for the upcoming Monday morning. This Sunday was also supposed to be the same.

And then the Mountains echoed..

My place..

This place was not the Mount Everest, nor it had the most stunning view. But when I leaned back on the edge, and freed my legs to hang in the valley, I felt different — somewhere inside me, a teardrop fell— something which I have never felt, and even after 72 hours, I am unable to describe.

Was it the feeling of me surrendering myself to nature?

Was it the feeling of all my 5 senses being in sync?

Or was it just the feeling of living 100% in present?

I will never be able to know what or why it was, but like most of the beautiful mysteries of Universe, is it really necessary to? When the moment finally settled in after an hour, it seemed apt to end my perfect Sunday at 2 PM and head back to airport/home/reality.

Universe: Did I hear “Perfect” ?

Now..

As a consequence of my mystical experience, unsurprisingly I was getting late for my scheduled flight. Things seemed going down, clock seemed to move faster, driving speed of 80mph felt 20mph, a 10 minutes wait for lunch felt eternity, the estimated time to reach went up and I started feeling down. Only some magic could have made me reach on time.

Universe: Did I hear “Magic” ?

Next flight: Monday morning. And my night at the airport begins.

Before I could plan out how to spend my night, and what all things to do, things started happening on its own.

I got a chance to talk to a security officer whose advice I followed without thinking. Later, he even recognized and talked to me the next morning. I got a chance to help an Italian family find dinner and choose ingredients on American sandwich. Later, I joked with them about how bad our sandwiches were. I got a chance to guard luggage of a random traveler, who trusted me and went out for 2 hours. Later, I went with him for a walk to help him hunt soft drinks. I got a chance to give my Kindle to a stranger, and take a nap by overcoming negative thoughts about him. Later, he thanked me for letting him read, and also liked the highlights.

Come the next morning, I did not miss the flight, and boarded on time. After a long wait, finally I can reach on time to join work.

Universe: Did I hear “on time” ?

Thanks to some extreme weather outside, the aircraft couldn’t take off because it got frost. So while seated inside, I got a chance to witness the aircraft being sprayed all chemicals for defrosting. It reminded me of the only time when I was seating inside a car during car wash. It felt therapeutic back then, but I never dreamt of witnessing an “aircraft wash”

Because of this therapeutic delay, I could witness a beautiful Sunrise, which was perhaps the only thing not covered over the weekend.

During Sunrise

Two days later…

I managed to reach home after significant delay, and had to incur some pains and losses. But when your home welcomes you in this way, you tend to forget everything and smile.

Clouds, sunshine, city, water and mountain

Two days later, while writing down this experience, I realize how the experience is still fresh in my mind, and how calm I felt back then. I realize why its special, is because I got to learn many little things

Time

Never think a day is over at 2 PM. Good or bad —we will never know what can happen at what time.

People

All those people whom I met at the airport, I could talk, walk, eat and sleep with them so freely. Neither I know their names, nor was few hours enough to know their personalities, but I will always remember them. Deep inside, all people are just beautiful souls.

Moments

Yes, I missed out on some good Sunday night dinner and sleep, but I had some unique moments — which will always manage to make me smile, and maybe shed a teardrop.

Love

Loving someone or something is very difficult. We feel scared and happy at the same time, we definitely skip some heartbeats but can still breathe calmly. We appreciate the feeling so deeply that we might cry or feel heavy. No matter how much time we spend, it’s just not enough and no matter how much we want it to be forever, it ends — just like my time with the valley.

And coincidentally, I stumbled upon the following quote now, which I wish I knew earlier.

If everything goes right, we get a good experience. If everything goes wrong, we get a good story.

— Simon Sinek

Thank you Denver International Airport; you not only gave me a good story, you gave me more friends than I can ever make in my lifetime.