Gabriel, Alejandra, Me, This Tool and Some Fat Guy

On my flight from DC back to Atlanta tonight, I found myself sitting next to a pretty young Columbian girl named Alejandra.  Bonus, right?  Wrong.  I didn’t see that sweet little baby girl she had on her right breast when I sat down.  I had been in Max and Erma’s for quite a bit longer than I realized I guess. (Dammit Sophia!) She looked scared almost when I sat down on the aisle.  Geez what kind of a monster have I become? Said I to self.  I asked her, “Not what you were expecting?”

“No. Where is my husband?  How the hell should I know the answer to that question? 

“He’s right there.”  Huh?? 

“Hi, my name is Gabriel.” 

“Great, I’m John.   What seat are you in?”  I get it; you want to sit by your old lady and your beautiful daughter, but what am I going to get out of this? Everybody knows that I’m an extreme claustrophobe.  Though I sympathize with your predicament I don’t see how I can help. 

Before I even knew what I was doing I was getting up out of MY seat to switch with Gabriel – without even knowing where his seat was! Wow!  That’s not like me at all.  Wednesday night flights go like this: I sit down. I wait for drink service, I order my Jack, I drink my Jack and I listen to the Clash until I fall asleep.  Simple. 

Don’t get involved – it’s not your issue.

So as these thoughts are going through my head and Gabriel keeps saying the same thing over and over, ”Hi, my name is Gabriel”, his stunning wife Alejandra is saying, almost shouting, “my husband, my husband”. The beautiful baby girl just keeps smiling; suckling at the teat.  (I almost stole that baby, but I’m more of a dog person than a person person.) (5) Seconds more pass and I’m finally aware that I’m out of my seat and I hear this voice…you know the guy who is talking too loud on his cell phone in public?  This tool.

“I can’t believe how awesome you are, Penny. You are the best thing ever, and I never would have made it today if you had not been there to help me.”  [Vomit.]  He couldn’t have been more than 20 years old.  Voyeuristic as I know it is, I thought, “How can you do this to yourself?  How can you give someone else this much power?  She will abuse it.  It’s not her fault, but she will.  If you give someone else dominion over how you feel about yourself, they will take that advantage and turn it against you.  It’s just human nature; survival of the fittest.  Just be cool – you don’t even know kid!”  I so wanted to take this chap aside and dissertate to him all the “wisdom” that I have acquired along the long road to interpersonal relational bliss (fail) that I've enjoyed.  In spite of how logical it seemed for me to do so at the time, I resisted and tried to maintain my focus.

At that EXACT same time I hear this, “Mom, I told you already that I DID turn the air conditioner off! Gah! Really?” I’m not a good judge of age but I would say that this guy was at least as old as I, if not older.  And he’s talking to his mother who for some reason still finds it appropriate to berate her son (her only son I would unfortunately learn later) in public about something he should be doing on his own.  I couldn’t help thinking to myself, “who is actually  to blame here?  The mother? Or this big fella'?  There surely was a point in his life where he could have cut the apron strings?  But for some reason he didn’t.  I wonder why?  I wonder why his mother is so concerned about the goings-on of a grown ass man.”  Maybe it’s because he is overweight.  AND is wearing flip-flops with white socks.  And ACTUALLY has a pocket protector full of multi-colored pens.  I can’t really say but I knew it was none of my business – just some fat guy.

As I was saying, I stood up to switch seats with Gabriel.  Wouldn’t you know that his seat is between this tool and some fat guy?  Fantastic. 

I’m resolved that this flight is going to suck at this point.  So what?  No big deal, right?  I gave up my seat so this guy could be next to his girl.  I should have felt good about that, but I was still perturbed.

THEN, this tool, pulled out of his little bag, a bottled water and a sundried tomato and avocado on rye.  He took off his shoes (his “penny” loafers) and crossed his legs like a perfect lady.  I can only assume he did this so that I might get a better look at his fancy argyle socks.

Tool.

Fat guy and moms were still going at it about the AC and the inevitable high electric bill. We haven’t even started to taxi!  All I could think, is it drink service time yet?

Being that I was fundamentally opposite of the two between which I sat; I stared straight ahead and didn’t say a word.  It’s 1 ½ hours – no worries. 

Alejandra, however was a very excited person and wanted to chat.  I welcomed that.  As I’ve said, I don’t engage.  I mind my business and forget about it.  I can listen though and all Alejandra wanted to do was talk. So be it – I listened.

Alejandra and Gabriel were in America for the first time.  They had all of their papers in order and their little girl was actually born in El Paso, Texas, so she is a US citizen.  Gabe, (she said it was okay if I called him that since I had been drinking) didn’t speak very good (not a single word of) English, but Alejandra did.  She knew as much or more about the history of this country as I did.  

She was more than willing to tell me about the dream that she’d had since she was a little girl, to live in this “free Americas”. 

I held my tongue.  Who was I to tell here that there is no such thing as the American dream anymore?  That hasn’t been a possibility since Reagan introduced us all to “trickle down economics”.  (Not to get political – my apologies.)

I was transfixed by this beautiful Columbian lovely speaking so passionately about her view of America.  What I soon started to understand was that what she was saying was what I had always thought about “America” – but had lost.  It was what I had always wanted “America” to be. 

It’s easy to have an opinion of a concept like that, but to see it first-hand was startling. AND it was refreshing to hear this new immigrant speak about the United States in a positive manner. All she could say was how much better it would be for her and her family in “these United States”.  Certainly, it couldn’t be worse than Columbia but I’m not sure “we” are all Ellis Island anymore either.  Again, I held my tongue.   

How can people say we should build a fence around this country to keep “those people out”?  I understand the basis for that thought and don’t entirely disagree with it, but that thought isn’t thought all the way through in my opinion.  Again, not being political.

I didn’t catch the baby’s name: I’m not sure I asked or if it was offered.  She looked precocious as hell though and I like that. Throughout the conversation I had with her mother she never took her eyes off of me.  She knew that she was a part of the conversation.  Hell, she was the most important part of the conversation without ever saying a word.  That’s the whole point. 

She was the whole point why Gabriel and Alejandra ever even thought about being in this country.  They were/are staking their lives to the possibility that baby might have a chance in the “new America”. 

Alejandra told me about an uncle her mom told her she had, who lived in Atlanta, who might know somebody in Miami who might know someone who could give Gabriel a job.  Think about that for a minute.  Is that enough for you to sell all you own, pack two bags and chase a dream?  It’s incredible to me.  And I was (still) blown away by the spirit that this young hopeful couple possessed. 

Gabriel had no idea what I was saying, but we understood each other.  Amazing.

I couldn’t help but think what a poor example we must have set for this “new American” family; a drunk, a half-a-fag and some Mommas-boy-Jabba-the-Hut character.  But hey, that is America, no?  Maybe we were the perfect welcome party.

I wished I had something important or inspirational to say to them, but all I could do was smile and think to myself, you are in for a very rude awakening.  My goodness, how negative have I allowed myself to become?  I just actually witnessed the essence of why we proclaim to be the greatest country ever in the history of the world and flippant and dismissive was all I could muster.  What a shame. 

I don’t pray, nor am I a believer in very much.  But I certainly will think about those (2) kids and that little baby when I lay down tonight warm in my bed with my dogs. 

I think I have worries?

They based their entire future livelihood on “maybe”. 

If you are not inspired by that, you are not alive. 

Can you imagine what this young family must be going through?  What excitement and joy and fear and uncertainty they must be feeling?

When the plane landed, everyone rushed to be the first one out of their seat to get to the overhead.  To be the first one on their cell phones or IPads.  To show everyone else how important they were – like we always do.

I have never been more embarrassed in my life. 

Gabriel, Alejandra and the baby just chilled.  The baby was in Gabriel’s lap and Alejandra had her head on his shoulder cooing to baby in a language only a mother could understand.  For them, nobody else was on that plane. There was no what if? There was no maybe.  There was only their “us” and all that mattered was how much better than yesterday tomorrow was going to be.

It was the most perfect family moment I have ever been blessed enough to witness – my own family included.

It was as close to perfect as can be.

In spite of what I know as fact, I believe in the American Dream.

Tonight I saw it first hand.

Gabriel and Alejandra are the American Dream.