Souljourner

What we do and see out there on the open road of our lives can sometimes vanish from our memory like streaming images of landscape, there and then forgotten. But who we meet, and what they do for us along the way, stays with us, and is what turns adventure into experience.
I have backpacked up the California coast, hitch-hiked into Oregon, searched for meaning on the Hawaiian Islands, and wandered aimlessly for some kind of purpose through Parisian streets. I have seen an array of landscape: from dormant volcanoes to thousand year-old Redwoods to 14th century architecture. And although they are sights to be treasured and held with an iron fist in the mind, it has always been the people whom I have treasured most. They are my "Travel Treasures". I cherish them dearly, hold them in my heart, and feel blessed to have met them when I needed them most.
In late Summer of 2013 I flew to Paris with the intentions of staying for as long as I could. I rented an apartment in Vincennes for six weeks, thinking that would be ample amount of time to find a job and a place to live. This was my first trip out of the country, and I went alone. I had two lay overs on the flight there. Each one a few hours long. The first in Chicago and the second in London. I did not fully feel the magnitude of what I was doing until I landed in London. There, the worldly babble made me realize that I was far from home with no one I knew for thousands of miles. I don't know if it was nervousness written across my face, or fear, that inclined John and Cindy, a couple that I met briefly in Chicago, to stop and talk to me and invite me to the American Express Business Lounge with them. Either way, they did.
At the front desk they told the woman that I was their nephew and that we had flown together from Los Angeles to London, that they were looking after me. She accepted. Inside there were large paneled windows from floor to ceiling that stretched along the outer wall of the lounge, giving full view to the northwest landscape of London. There was a buffet and a myriad of drinks. Everything gratis. There were large couches and reclining chairs. Even showers. We sat together and ate and drank coffee for a couple hours. Finally it was time to part and they left for their flight. After they left I showered and drank coffee until my flight. Without them I would have sat watching people for six hours, but instead, John and Cindy showed me that there is humility and graciousness in the world.