Prior to boarding our flight from Denver, Colorado to Columbus, Ohio the past weekend, we were upgraded to First Class seat assignments. Sweet. About an hour into the flight, the lovely woman next to me got up to use the facilities, and, unbeknownst to her, knocked over the can of Diet Coke she had placed on the divider tray between our seats. I was pulled out of peaceful meditation by the cascade of cold soft drink spilling over my lap and pooling on the seat under my thigh (that was a first). I pushed the Service Button (another first) and summoned two flight attendance who instantly supplied me an assortment of dry and steaming hot hand towels to mop up, underscored by a tsunami of apologies. My seat neighbor returned to find my in the final stages of cleaning up, horrified that she had been the cause of my soggy trousers. I assured her that I was fine, and, that, having been day-dreaming of my favorite beach on Kauai, found the cool wave of beverage refreshing. After a trip to the facilities to rinse off my hands and pants (there was no running water in the sink, a first), a for-your-troubles 2,500 mileage-plus credit from the flight attendant (a first), and a partially used Starbucks gift card (a blood-money offering from my seat mate) (another first), I was finding humor in the whole First Class experience.
For the remainder of the flight I had a delightful and soulful conversation with the lovely woman seated next to me. At one point she asked me if I was a minister. To which I replied, “I am not a minister, however, I do a lot of ministering in my work as a stage director and life-shift facilitator.” “You just seem so zen, so calm, so clear.” Appropriate to our conversation, she asked me about my take on current affairs, and was curious about my perspective on the soul lessons and soul agreement of democracy, politics, religion, and humanity. She commented with hesitation on how nice it was that I could see things in this way. I shared with her how it is my job, my part, to hold love from a big picture perspective, “If no one is holding an unfiltered vision of our individual and collective potential, we’ll never achieve it. I am very clear this is my purpose.” By the end of our conversation she was on her cell phone order a copy of my book At-One-Ment: Reclaiming Our Humanity.
At-One-Ment 52 Card Deck
