“It keeps Bill a live, gives him something to get up and go do.  He lost his wife and his children are grown.” – Robert Farnsworth

Midnight Arrival

It was toward the end of the day.  I was walking toward a boarding gate at an airport, hoping to catch the last flight of the evening to an airport near my home.  I could read the gate monikers; Orlando, Chicago, and then Seattle.  It was the sign labeled Seattle that really caught my eye.  That’s because it’s where my friend Bill Webster lives.

I’d spent the day working with Bill and as he was leaving me earlier in the day he said he was on his way to the airport to catch a flight home. He was so tired after working all day that when he was getting into Robert Farnsworth’s jeep for a ride to the airport he almost didn’t make into the seat.  Luckily, I happened to be standing right behind him, saw him begin to tumble out toward the ground, and reached my hand up to his back to give him a gentile assist up.  He’s eighty-years-old and at that moment, I was hoping he would make it home!

So, when I saw that airport gate sign marking the flight to Seattle I wondered.  I wondered if I might have a chance to check on Bill once more.  After all, my flight didn’t board for another hour and a half, so I had a few minutes for a detour.

I began to detour, angle my path toward the Seattle-gate-area just as the gate agent announced boarding for those needing a little assistance.  It took me another fifteen steps, or so, before I saw Bill walking up to the gate.  The timing was perfect!

I reached out my right hand and put it on the back of his right shoulder, while saying, “Bill!  It’s good to see you!”

He turned and smiled.  “What are you doing here?”  He asked.

“I’m headed out to do some business in another state.”  I said.  “I’m so glad to see you’re doing well!  Have a good flight home!”

With that, he smiled.  It was big smile that allowed me to get some needed relief.  He had rested since I’d seen him a couple of hours earlier.  I marveled at his strength and endurance!

“Hi Robert.”  I said through my phone once I arrived at my own departure gate. “I just wanted you to know that I saw Bill a moment ago.  He was boarding his flight to Seattle.  He was rested and happy!”

I called Robert because we had talked about how hard Bill was working on our current transaction together.

“I think it’s what gets him out of bed every morning!” Robert explained. “His wife has passed.  He sees his children at least a couple of times each year during family vacations since they all live in different states.  He loves his work.  It keeps him living!”

“It keeps him living!”  I mulled over and over in my mind.  First, just as the gate agent announced the boarding of my own flight and then again over the next two and a half hours while flying toward a midnight arrival.

After all, I’m approaching another midnight arrival of my own.  People see that as they look at my gray hair, at least what’s left of it.  They ask, “when are you going to retire?”

“This is what I do!”  I respond. “What would I do if I retired?”

Yes!  I can see the clock on my wrist.  I checked it because the flight attendant just announced our final approach.  We would be arriving do deplane at 12:18 am.

Once at the arrival gate the door to the aircraft opened.  I walked briskly through it.

“It keeps him living!”  I reminded myself while walking through a near empty terminal toward a rendezvous with my parked car so I could drive forward.  

Just like my friend Bill.

Because that’s what my friend Bill does.  He keeps living!