Stranger Things...

NASA at MCO

This is an absolutely horrible photo, but it does tell a story. 
I  don't recall writing about some of the absurdities of life as it stands now, but probably should so that we don't forget. 

Not being a 'paranormal' kind of gal at all, this sounds weird, but we prefer to call it Roger's sense of humor. Do people speak to you 'from beyond'....will we ever know the answer to that? Likely not, but also probably not.

But do things happen that make you think of someone or relate it to someone 'from the other side'...oh highly likely. Anyway, we have had fun with some of the absurdities in life lately and today was one of them.

I was at the airport (MCO) because Karin was returning from the Phillipines ...YEA!Roger ALWAYS picked her up and of course, departed from home when she departed from her connection city (because you never know if she will arrive early - mind you that we are 30 minutes from the airport and Detroit is 3-4 hours away, but never mind such math!)

So, Jim and I left the Social Security office and headed for the airport, yes, almost two hours early. Now, Jim had great fun exploring the airport, one of his fascinations and I found it interesting following him. Open door? Oh, that must mean that it is ok to go in. Really?  A great adventure to be sure. 

Finally down on the arrivals floor with still an hour of wait time, my eyes turned to the NASA store. As many times as I had been to the airport and as many times as I had taken photos of kids in this location, I had never ever actually been INTO this store.  Knowing there would be a lesson here for sure, I snapped a photo. 

Mind you, I have a new iPhone. Said phone had only 67 photos on it. Said phone was fully charged up. Yet, every time I tried to take a photo, the phone would shut off. I managed to get this very dizzy shot after about a dozen tries. I even shut the phone off...powered it down....and let it rest, then re-started it. Nothing.  

Well, a girl can not be in a NASA shop without shopping, now can she? Yes, I found some interesting things in there and talked to a young lady who had been to the Space Center for the very first time and she was in college!  I can't even imagine. That is like never having been to Disney! Who does that?  It was fun to look at all of the great displays and see photos of places NEAR the fire station. (The VAB...no the photos never show the fire station directly across the street and The Landing Strip photos never show that great station either) Roger had a good time out there. He worked with great people too. 

I recall that one thing I was going to do was make the effort to speak to strangers FIRST....like Roger.   While roaming the airport we ran into two middle school aged boys who were playing in the elevator. Jim told one that this was like and E-Ticket ride. I asked if he knew what that meant and told him about old Disney.  He looked at me like I was from another planet. OK...that one did not go so well. 

Second try was in the NASA store. At least we had a connection, and the girl wanted to learn more about NASA...not at all a bad plan for a girl who worked in the NASA store and wore a flight suit.  OK, better. Two strangers down. 

After I roamed back to the waiting area, found a bench and started to show Jim my NASA purchase, this remarkable thing happened. They guy next to me said, 'man, I have a box load of that stuff you could take off my hands"  (Now, that should have been the opening for...let me give you my email...that is not stuff") but reached into the depths of my shyness and asked if he worked at the Space Center. One question down.   And then for 20 minutes we chatted about his 40 years and 10 year retirement and Roger's 42 years over there, not yet retired.  It was actually fun to find a common thread with a stranger. Then he left to greet his wife and Jim appeared on the scene. 

As people came off the tram (in herds, rolling those bags over tile floors) Jim commented about wondering what flight it was. I told him that it was from Minneapolis. Now HOW would I know that? Well, the man's wife was flying in from Minneapolis, of course, and she was in that herd.  So, we had more waiting to do, because we were waiting for Detroit.    

Imagine that, useful information as well. 

Roger's Lesson:  Don't spend life behind the camera and in the stores. Get out there and talk to someone. You might actually find that you have something in common on this big ole planet. And you might gather some useful information in the process. 

OK. Stranger number 3 was a winner.