The flight of 7th April 2019

I had booked an aisle seat in row 2 .... hoping that I might have the 3 seats to myself
On boarding I saw that the window seat was already occupied by a young woman.
"Ok" I thought "she won't bother me .... she will leave me alone"
Soon after seating the middle seat was taken by a woman about my age....
"Ok" I thought "she won't bother me .... she will leave me alone"
I settled down and began to write a new poem .....
After a while I noticed that 'window' was doing some serious artwork on her phone! It wasn't idle doodling .... it was clearly very skilled purposeful image manipulation..... I was intrigued and kept half an eye on the work being done ... wondering what app was being used? ... what was the purpose?
By this time I had finished my poem .... I noticed 'middle' lean over to 'window' .....and ask the questions which were churning in my mind. 'Window' was clearly happy to discuss and I listened closely .... the motivation for the artwork was clearly aligned with my poetry .... so when an opportunity presented, I asked if my poem - written while she drew - was of interest. Very much so!
..... and so began a two hour 'escape from the world' where we shared history, interests, motivations. Her artwork over the past twenty years is amazing.

She shared how this flight was a last minute booking to spend some time in Bali .... filling in time till her next FIFO contract in project management was to commence. If various circumstances ... my delayed flight .... her delayed contract start .... had not conspired .... Peta and I would never have met.

Both of us clearly wanted to continue our time of sharing .... and we exchanged contact details to stay in touch and perhaps meet again on a future trip.