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Ten years ago this summer, I was struggling in the Paris airport, an exhausted toddler on each hip, trying to get to our connecting flight. Toddlers would only be held. I couldn’t carry the bags. Suddenly, a stranger stepped out of the immigration line & swept up our bags.Thread.
He said I reminded him of himself years ago, his girls now grown. He carried the stuff & walked us all the way thru the line, all the way to the split off for the gate. He asked about the book I was working on in Berlin, charmed the toddlers, schlepped.He cheered us on.When we 2/
parted, we exchanged cards. He was the Pulitzer Prize winning author, Nicholas Fox Weber. Later, he sent me a signed copy of his latest book. I’ve never forgotten that kindness. And yesterday, I saw his book on my shelf & realized that one of the things I miss most during 3/
the pandemic are those random encounters with strangers, the tiny acts of kindness, the smiles and small hellos and insignificant daily interactions that all together stitch together a sense of community. Zoom is a patch for the people we know and love. But forging community 4/
is so much more than the deep, long term interactions. Feeling grateful to Nicholas Fox Weber today for an act of kindness he has surely long forgotten, and hoping some day, before too long, I’ll be able to do the same again for some struggling parent in an airport. END
