Dinner with a friend

Tonight we had dinner with an old, but somwhat new friend. We met Takayuki about five years ago and it was a rather coincidental meeting. We were traveling to Europe to visit my brother, who was living in Norway at the time. Takayuki was a 17-year-old exchange student from Japan. He had just finished a year of living in Abilene, KS and was traveling to Europe for a short time before returning to Japan. We happened to be on the same flight out of Wichita, which left very late and consequently made us arrive late in Memphis, where we were to catch an international flight to Amsterdam. Well, even though we ran through the airport to try to make the flight (think O.J. Simpson in those old Hertz commercials), we just didn't make it in time. The airline put us up in a hotel for the night and promised us seats on the next day's flight. Well, we had 24 hours to kill, and that is when we made our acquaintance with Takayuki. We visited with him in the restaurant and at other times during the day, swapping stories and travel plans.

The real bonding came after we returned to the airport. Checking in for our new flight turned out to be more complicated than necessary. We were finally assigned seats together on the flight, but the person at the ticket counter tried to tell Takayuki that there wasn't a seat for him. That would have meant that this 17-year-old kid from another country would be stuck by himself for another day--or maybe even longer. Well, the "mom" in me thought that was ridiculous and stepped up to help him. I pretty much told them that it was their fault he had missed his earlier flight and that they had to find a seat for him on this plane. And they did! Takayuki was very grateful and we spent the next couple of hours hanging out with him. The girls liked him a lot and I think he enjoyed the attention they gave him. Anyway, we kept in contact with him over the years and when he returned to Kansas this summer, we made arrangements to get together. It was a short visit, but very enjoyable. We are looking forward to the possibility of him returning sometime in the fall. And who knows--maybe we will even get to go to Japan someday. That would be cool, especially since he is from the same area of Japan as my sister-in-law. I just think it is amazing how a rotten situation can turn into something positive.