Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Left: Remained, or Departed (11/20/25)
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TITLE: All the Airport's a Stage | Previous Challenge Entry
By LINDA GERMAIN
11/27/25 -
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Whether paying to park, taking a cab right to the door, or having friends or family deliver folks to the correct check-in place on time, it can be a nerve-wracking activity. For those of us who are grounded and exempt from the fly zone, it can be a delightful and thought-provoking experience.
My favorite part of watching “airport plays” over the years has been produced by curiosity and observation. Every human hurrying by with a rolling suitcase, or struggling with a backpack or a young child, or rushing to get to the indicated concourse before it’s too late has a real-life story.
When I stand at the window to watch the giant aircraft preparing to taxi to the runway and take off into the sky, I’m aware of the ones left behind who are yearning for one last glimpse of a particular passenger, sometimes waving as if the person on board has X-ray vision and can see through that dark glass. I know the feeling. For me, it’s hard to leave until I have seen a smooth departure, as if my presence is necessary to get the huge metal bird into the air.
The wonderful part of observation theater is sitting close to where the arrivals come down the long hall to waiting family or friends. How often I have become teary-eyed around complete strangers when little children are jumping up and down yelling, “There’s Grandma! She’s here!”
And then, there’s the grandmother, face aglow with anticipation, hurrying with arms wide open to scoop up her ever-growing babies of her baby.
I love the predictable chatter. “How was your trip? Let’s get your luggage. I’ll go get the car and meet you out front.”
The scene is almost always played the same, no matter what the culture.
The best part is, ‘We’re so thankful you’re here and safe!”
They cry. I cry. It makes me want to go home with them and see what presents she has in her luggage for the grandchildren, and what they’re having for supper.
Not all arriving customers are met with such joy. So many have grim expressions and can’t wait to get out of the building and on to act two. Some weary travelers, perhaps business people, are simply exhausted and counting the seconds to the next carbon-copy hotel and maybe a room service dinner before tomorrow’s lecture, conference, big deal, or important meeting.
I want them to take a deep breath, call home, have a hot shower, and pray for guidance. Bibles used to be in bedside drawers. Hopefully, some lodgings still provide that ever-present comfort.
Years ago, I saw a stunningly handsome young man in a combat uniform standing alone in the middle of the masses who were all coming and going to possibly important places to do possibly important things—or not. I felt compelled to speak to him and thank him. He was carrying a rose and told me he was on the way to propose to his girlfriend.
More tears for me. What he needed was a hug, but that didn’t seem appropriate, so I shook his hand, God-blessed him, and moved on. I wondered if she said yes. How could she not? And if they married, did they have a passel of beautiful kids, or maybe he became a general or a minister, or a pizza maker? The what-if stories are so limitless that they almost put a cramp in a right-brain thinking person.
Even if you don’t have travel plans or need to pick up or send off a loved one, getting a front row seat in an airport waiting room is an amazing experience and provides endless dramatic scenes--and very often comedic ones too. It may necessitate putting away the phone and simply staying tuned to the inevitable, unfolding, natural production always waiting in the wings.
Air travel scenarios have seriously changed over the years but all those valise-lugging, carry-on schlepping folks rushing around to make connections can still provide the most intriguing live performances that will make you glad you stopped a while to enjoy the creatures we call human beings as they are acting exquisitely human on the stage of life.
I applaud them all--every single one!
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I did like the story about the service member who was going to propose to his girlfriend. I wonder if she accepted his rose or not