My Mom VS Chicago

Published on 20 June 2023 at 08:34

I’ve calculated it before, and it turns out I’ve been on over 60 flights in my life—let’s not even mention my carbon footprint.

I admit—I had a head start as far as traveling the world goes. My mom grew up in Poland, my dad in Finland, and I would visit my grandparents every summer up until I was around 12. Because of this, three things happened.

  1. ๐‘ด๐’š ๐’ƒ๐’“๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“ ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐‘ฐ ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’„๐’‚๐’Ž๐’† ๐’‘๐’“๐’†๐’•๐’•๐’š ๐’„๐’๐’๐’”๐’†. ๐‘ฉ๐’†๐’„๐’‚๐’–๐’”๐’† ๐’˜๐’† ๐’˜๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’–๐’”๐’–๐’‚๐’๐’๐’š ๐’•๐’“๐’‚๐’—๐’†๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’•๐’๐’ˆ๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“ ๐’‚๐’” ๐’–๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’‘๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’†๐’… ๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’๐’“๐’”, ๐’˜๐’† ๐’˜๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’†๐’‚๐’„๐’‰ ๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“'๐’” “๐’“๐’๐’„๐’Œ” ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‚๐’ ๐’๐’„๐’†๐’‚๐’ ๐’๐’‡ ๐’‘๐’†๐’๐’‘๐’๐’†. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’˜๐’‚๐’” ๐’”๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’–๐’• ๐’Œ๐’๐’๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐‘ฐ ๐’„๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’”๐’‚๐’‡๐’†๐’๐’š ๐’‡๐’‚๐’๐’ ๐’‚๐’”๐’๐’†๐’†๐’‘ ๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‘๐’๐’‚๐’๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’„๐’‚๐’–๐’”๐’† ๐’Ž๐’š ๐’ƒ๐’“๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“ ๐’˜๐’‚๐’” ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’”๐’Š๐’…๐’† ๐’Ž๐’†.
  2. ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’†๐’„๐’Œ-๐’Š๐’๐’”. ๐‘บ๐’†๐’„๐’–๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’š ๐’๐’Š๐’๐’†๐’”. ๐‘ฎ๐’‚๐’•๐’†๐’”. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’ˆ๐’“๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’‡๐’‚๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‚๐’˜๐’‚๐’š ๐’‚๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’„๐’‚๐’•๐’„๐’‰ ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’‡๐’๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’• ๐’‚๐’•๐’•๐’†๐’๐’…๐’‚๐’๐’•๐’” ๐’‚๐’๐’๐’๐’–๐’๐’„๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’†๐’™๐’Š๐’•๐’”. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’‘๐’†๐’„๐’Š๐’‚๐’ ๐’Ž๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’๐’•๐’” ๐’˜๐’‰๐’†๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’๐’… ๐’๐’–๐’•๐’”๐’Š๐’…๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’…๐’๐’˜ ๐’๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐’–๐’๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’. ๐‘จ๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’”๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’”๐’ ๐’‡๐’‚๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’Š๐’‚๐’“ ๐’•๐’ ๐’Ž๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’š ๐’‡๐’†๐’†๐’ ๐’๐’Š๐’Œ๐’† ๐’‰๐’๐’Ž๐’†. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’”๐’• ๐’‘๐’‚๐’“๐’• ๐’๐’‡ ๐‘ช๐‘ถ๐‘ฝ๐‘ฐ๐‘ซ ๐’˜๐’‚๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’†๐’—๐’†๐’“-๐’๐’‚๐’”๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’๐’๐’๐’ˆ๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’“๐’‚๐’—๐’†๐’; ๐’•๐’ ๐’ˆ๐’†๐’• ๐’๐’๐’”๐’•; ๐’•๐’ ๐’‡๐’๐’š.
  1. ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’•๐’‰ ๐’Ž๐’š ๐’‡๐’‚๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’š ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐‘ฐ ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’ˆ๐’‚๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’“๐’–๐’”๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’ˆ๐’๐’๐’… ๐’‘๐’†๐’๐’‘๐’๐’†. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’˜๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’ˆ๐’ ๐’˜๐’“๐’๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‚๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’•๐’Š๐’Ž๐’†. ๐‘จ ๐’Ž๐’Š๐’”๐’”๐’†๐’… ๐’‡๐’๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’•. ๐‘จ ๐’Ž๐’Š๐’”๐’‘๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’†๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’ˆ๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’†. ๐‘บ๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’•๐’Š๐’Ž๐’†๐’” ๐’Š๐’• ๐’˜๐’‚๐’” ๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’๐’๐’š ๐’ƒ๐’‚๐’… ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’Š๐’• ๐’”๐’†๐’†๐’Ž๐’†๐’… ๐’๐’Š๐’Œ๐’† ๐’Ž๐’š ๐’ƒ๐’“๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“ ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐‘ฐ ๐’˜๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐’”๐’•๐’–๐’„๐’Œ ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‚๐’๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“ ๐’„๐’๐’–๐’๐’•๐’“๐’š. ๐‘ฉ๐’–๐’• ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‚๐’๐’ ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’”, ๐’†๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’š๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’Œ๐’†๐’… ๐’๐’–๐’•. ๐‘พ๐’‰๐’š? ๐‘ฎ๐’๐’๐’…, ๐’ˆ๐’†๐’๐’†๐’“๐’๐’–๐’”, ๐’Œ๐’Š๐’๐’… ๐’‘๐’†๐’๐’‘๐’๐’†.

One story: my mom and I (when I was 12 months old) got stuck in Chicago. Our first flight was delayed, so we missed the connecting flight, and our baggage was lost. No baggage meant no clothes, no diapers, and no baby food/formula. The airport found us a place for the night, and thankfully there was enough supplies in my mom’s carry-on bag to last the 12-month old me through the night. By the next day, my mom was dead on her feet—and she had no supplies left.

 

Then, waiting in a line to rebook the flight tickets, someone approached her. “Do you need anything?”. That person, with one question, became a legendary hero in my world. My mom breathed, “Yes. Everything.” She frantically named all the things she needed: formula, baby food, baby clothes, diapers… and that entirely random stranger proceeded to drive to a Target, buy all the items, and bring them back. They did not let my mom pay for anything. 

 

Yes, people aren’t always great; however, at least in our experiences, the good stories outweigh the bad. So long as good people are out there (and they are), no matter what, everything will be ok!

 

Note: I’m aware that I can only say that because of the color of my eyes, hair, and skin. I have friends who have had experiences nothing short of traumatic in the airports.

 

 

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Comments

Suzanne Eichstadt
a year ago

Love This!!

Leslie Hercules
a year ago

Maia,
You write beautifully!
I love the Airport story... I worked American Airlines for 18 years, (part time 5:30 - 9:30 am at the MSP airport.... teaching in the afternoons)
Always flying standby..... I haven't had a full fare ticket since 1976. I've been stuck everywhere...with and without my 3 children...
Oh the stories we could share...