here. i brought you a poem!

If I'm very lucky when I am 86 I will feel just exactly like the lady in seat 38C.  We all will.

The Lady in 38 C
gets confused. She thinks I’m her nurse.
“Nurse!” she yells. “My finger!”
So I bring her a band-aid
and put it on even though she’s fine.
“Oh thank you nurse!” she yells.
“You’re a good one.”
She winks and smiles and the woman next to her
glares into her computer.
I think the old lady’s charming.
She’s 86, still pretty. Her eyes are blue.
Her hair is a cloud.
She looks exactly like what’s outside.
She’s the only air in this cabin, the only light.
“Nurse!” she yells, and I look back
over the sad heads, eggs in a carton,
faces pressed against
the mite-ridden blankets
and pillows they fought for,
and there she is, beaming.
“Nurse,” she says. “Where are we?”
I take her hand
and look out the window.
I scratch my head, smile
and say, “Somewhere
over Idunno.”
She’s the only passenger
who’s ever gotten that joke.
Up here, nearly everyone is miserable.
I count on small joys to get by.
The woman in 38C says, “Oh, Nurse!”
and the woman next to her
who probably thinks we’re somewhere
over Idaho, that wonderland of Hemingway
and golden potatoes,
rolls her eyes and bangs the computer keys
until the seatbelt sign goes on
and the captain says,
“We’ll be experiencing weather.”
which is what people say
instead of scary things like storm and turbulence
and pretty soon the plane is bouncing
and the woman with the computer
grips her armrest
while the old lady throws her arms up
like she’s on a roller coaster and yells,
“They should charge extra for this!”

 

by Lori Jakiela (former flight attendant)

Comments

[Nanci]

Oh Mary Ann, what a fab poem. Love the thoughts of the flight attendant, about all the serious/miserable people up there, except the glorious passenger in seat 38C.

[Mary Rork-Watson]

Eggs in a carton! Marvelous.

[teri]

I love that!

My first job was working in a nursing home. There was a resident who would always take off her socks, tie two ends together to form a sash, and tie that around her head like a bonnet. Now really, how can you not smile at someone who looks like that and is smiling at you?

[Susie LaFond]

I LOVE this SSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!!! Reminds me of this Storypeople poem by Brian Andreas 'feels like some kind of ride but it's turning out just to be life going absolutely perfectly' I'm not so sure about the 'perfectly' part but I am hanging on just the same and enjoying the view from here. I gotta print this and hang it on my fridge so I can smile everyday. Thanks for posting this delightful poem.

[debbie]

Dont we wish!!!

[Judy Wise]

You bring us treasure. ((((hugggggg)))

[M]

Haven't read the poem yet. My eye was caught by the sunny, beautiful day in Geiranger. Sigh...
Marissa

[Barbara Hagerty]

I loved this so much I read it twice! Then I had my daughter read it, and I read it again with her!

[Daisy]

I like, I like.
I like Lori who wrote the poem , I like the old lady in it and I LIKE you for bringing it to me. .
Thank you Mary Ann

PS. I loved Norway.

[annie!]

That's just about as wonderful as it gets. I was in PriceSmart yesterday...the Colombian version of Costco...when I rounded a corner and an elegant, elderly woman looked at me and LIT UP. She spoke to me in rapid Spanish - which I'm sorry to say I didn't understand - and then sang me a song. The whole time, her nurse was trying to pull her away but we held fast to each other's hands and if she felt the joy that I did during our encounter...then I'm thrilled. Heck, I'm thrilled anyway. How often do you get to meet a kindred spirit who just exudes love?

[Domenico]

A lady like that tucks me in every night.

And she greets every morning like the lady in the photo.

[robin]

Wonderul!

[Carol Gossett]

Excellent!

[Michele Unger]

That's one wonderful poem! I love it.

[Maria]

Love.

[pam knutson]

LOVE IT! THANKS SO MUCH FOR POSTING.

[Caatje]

Now this was a wonderful way to start my day! Thank you.

[magaret]

See now this is why I get my coffee, open my ipad and come on over to Dispatch from LA! brilliant, still laughing... (can't tell you the number of times I've watched your clip of Henri the cat surrounded by morons, sometimes a gal just needs a little smile..) Mx

[peggy mcdevitt]

I couldn't sleep, its 3am or so and I am chuckling, thanks Mary Ann, that is so great, just what I needed. Sleep well and have some fun today.

[Marianne]

I'm lucky, I'm 48 and fell this way, oh I'm lucky oh so lucky.........,.

[Marianne]

Ooooop and silly ' it meant to be feel not fell....lol it's the cold Aussie weather.....lol

[KateinCleveland]

Perfection!

[Judy H.]

Loved it. :)

[Caroline]

You find the best stuff. Then you share it with all of us. Some day I will have something wonderful and I will share with you. Promise.

[Shar Ulm]

Thanks for the poem on my 65th birthday!

[Michelle LaPoint Rydell]

Fantastic! l Thanks for brightening my day!!!

[ceevee]

How do you find these gems! I had to print out this poem. Lori J so aptly described so much. Thank you, dear heart, for finding this stuff and sharing it with us!

[Linda]

Wonderful!!!! Thank you for bring us great big smiles to brighten our faces and our days.

[kas]

MaryAnn Moss, you are one of the most adorable human beings I've ever seen. I'm going to make a t-shirt that says, "I'm a Mossy! Are You?" and I'm going to wear it on my next adventure! ;)

[Gwen Delmore]

LOVE the poem! When my dad and I flew to Kansas in May, he told me about my first airplane ride when I was not even two (so back with Amelia and the Lindberghs). He said when it got really turbulent, I sat happily on my mom's lap and yelled, "WHEE" as we bounced and rolled.

[Chelsy]

Love it! Just love it.

[Lori Wostl]

Hallelujah! Thanks for this

[annamaria]

Wonderful poem - wish I felt like that during "weather" on a plane!