Flying to Bend

The day before I was supposed to board my plane for Bend, OR I looked down at my virtual boarding pass and noticed it said I was flying into Portland, OR. That’s wrong, United must have made a mistake, I thought. I had received a confirmation email when I booked the trip and had even checked in for the flight, never noticing until about 12 hours before I was supposed to travel to the airport that I had booked myself to the wrong city! This is the stuff you dream of doing accidentally, a nightmare…only I had really done it. I was set up to arrive in a place three hours away from my friends, from my birthday weekend away from day-to-day life.

My first feeling was panic. I called my mom, because that is what you do. And then I called United, hoping above hopes that they could help me. Rick answered and I explained my situation, laughing gently at myself. He told me I wasn’t the only one that has done this, booked to the wrong destination. He laughed with me, told me a story about his grandmother, and quickly and efficiently found me a seat on the correct plane and switched over my ticket. I told him he had made my day. He told me that I had done the same for him. That I didn’t know how many calls were usually with either angry people or those struck with Covid or another sickness. We laughed more and wished each other good days.

And I got off the phone feeling lighter and happy. There might have been a time in my life where I would have yelled at myself, frustrated that I had made such an absent-minded mistake. But instead it was a moment of connection with a person I will possibly never speak to again. It was a moment where I felt hopeful about humanity. It even made me feel kindly towards big—business United. I think I was supposed to meet Rick, have him brighten my day and me his.

As I flew over the lit up rocks of Smith Rocks, Mt Bachelor shining like a beacon on the horizon, I was filled with such appreciation for Rick. The gratitude tipping over to the family at home and the dear friends faces I was about to see on the ground. And gratitude for having a blossoming awareness, as time goes on, to take all of it in.