Never Thought This Would Happen…

…but I finally met somebody cool for once on one of my trips!  My colleague Andy once told me the saying, “When you go on a trip whether you’re on a bus, train or an air plane, you might meet that one special person but there’s a one in a million chances of that ever happening.”

And I’ll admit that I agree.  It’s true.  One in a million that you’ll meet that one special person.  Statistically, I’m not sure how many times this has happened but I’m bound to believe it does happen from time to time.  For me though, this time, it’s different.  I finally met somebody I subconsciously never thought I would’ve met.  The way it all rolled out into play was so bizarre still awes me but I was lucky enough to have been seated at a dinner table with two other people.  There was a man in his later 40s or 50s and another younger woman perhaps late 20s or early 30s?  I couldn’t tell you to be sure but what I can tell you is that I was hoping that I could just eat my dinner in peace, alone.  On my usual trips, this is what I would normally do.  I’d eat alone and spend some time to myself to reflect and to observe my surroundings.  This time was different.  It just happened.
I sat down with these two and it appears that they didn’t know each other.  The man in front of me (whose name I did not catch) has dual citizenship – Canadian and American and has been working for the Department of Fisheries for over 35 years as a researcher.  He lives up just a bit past north of Hope and he tells me he’s on his vacation which he is entitled to.  He was an interesting man full of humour and definitely one who admits faults of his generation compared to ours.  Not to mention, he was very understanding of evolving cultures of CBCs and whatnot.  The topic of me going back to Asia was brought up and it appears that the lady whom I sat beside has been to Macau before.  We got into the discussion of hobbies and interests and whatnot and I learned that the lady beside me was in advertising!  I was like, “Wow, no way?!”  It appears that she works for an independent advertising agency in Seattle who does the ads for Alaska Airlines and Toyota etc.  Pretty impressive I must say.  Well, dinner came to an end and she decided to relax in the observation car.  I asked if I could join her and she kindly accepted.  I went to grab my laptop and came back to sit down with her.  We talked about our reasons as to why we chose to take the train.  I basically told her that I wanted to try it out and that airfare from Vancouver to Los Angeles was just too much.  She agreed and said this was her first time taking the train.  Neat, I thought.
The chitter chatter went on a for a bit and then some drunk ass loser who thinks he’s “The Man” of the train with his macho-like manliness was just oozing out of him.  It was so disgusting because he was clearly drunk and had just too much wine.  He was so full of shit from the dinner table claiming to be a language accent connoisseur after asking a woman across from our table whether she was Iranian or not when she was Peruvian?  Wow, buddy.  Get a life.  Anyways, our judgment opened us both up so we talked about Vancouver and the different restaurants and whatnot.  So I asked this lady for her name.  “I’m Sarah.”  And at the point, I introduced myself and gave her one of my Aspiration Media business cards.

She liked the card and clearly found it to be a creative and artistic statement.  I’m glad she feels that was especially for somebody coming from the industry.  Mind you, she’s in accounting but she has a lot of work experience in the advertising field alone.  But anyways, I offered her to give me a call if she’s ever up in Vancouver again and I really hope that she does.  She’s really cool, I must say.  Pretty cute, nice hair and killer smile.  Overall, I never thought I’d run into a nice American Woman like herself especially on a trip like this.  I really hope she does give me a call when she comes up to Vancouver.  It’d be nice to see her again and of course, to have dinner.  She even offered me to give her a call if I’m ever in Seattle so maybe I should head down there more often now that I’ve made a new friend.

I woke up the next morning at approximately 6:30am?  I don’t remember.  I know for a fact that I fell asleep again and woke up in time for breakfast.  I walked down the aisle to see if Sarah was awake but she was curled up with a blanket on top of her sleeping away.  I didn’t want to disturb her so I went on my own way to the dining car.  There, I sat down and as I finished my breakfast, an older lady was seated with me.  I learned a great deal about her.  Her name’s Louis, just like Louis from Family Guy.  She talked just like her and infact, sounded like her.  She was an interesting woman for somebody who’s 75.  She’s traveled all over the world because she was a travel agent in her younger days and now is a director at the Portland University Library.  Pretty neat.  I’m leaving a lot of facts out but nonetheless, it was definitely an interesting experience.

As soon as I finished, Louis let me go and I walked back to my seat thinking that it’d be a good opportunity to brush up.  I felt like garbage.  I wanted to brush my teeth and wash my face.  I still felt groggy but as I walked towards my seat, Sarah saw me and greeted me with a warm, smiley face.  Sparkling eyes before me, she asked how my breakfast was and all I could say in return was, “It was fine but I think it would’ve been a lot better if you had joined me.”  She blushed and laughed. We talked for a bit then I went back to my seat.  Hours later, I realized her stop was coming up.  San Jose, California.  She packed her belongings and as the train stopped, she stopped, looked over for me and waved good bye but before she left, she said, “I’ll see you in Vancouver.”  I said in return, “Call me…”  And that itself was so self-satisfying.  People around me looked at me, smiled and said, “Looks like you caught yourself a nice one.”  And I really hope that I did and then off she went.

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