Mariah's Pile of Stones: Jet Setting-

May 21, 2013

Dear Ones,

This morning as I stood in a line with some twenty other foreigners for a cup of coffee I felt like quite the jet setter, two trips to Shanghai in a week and I was already well on my way for the return trip to our Big House. This trip had once again been the result of a child needing emergent transport for care and I had once again packed a crash pack for the 18 hour train trip to Shanghai. This time, however, there were no return tickets for the next two days so a plane ticket for early this morning was purchased and I spent the night in a hotel. I was so grateful for the nice room, and you know what those little toiletries they put in the room are a wonderful treat when all you can find in your back pack is toilet paper, gauze, alcohol swabs, Tylenol suppositories, IV meds, IV fluids, hemostats, and a LED head lamp so you can use all these items in a dark train car. The warm bed and the hot shower with soap and shampoo felt like a luxury. I even used the provided tooth brush and paste. So this morning life was easy and fast paced as I rolled out of bed, grabbed my back pack, ate a quick power breakfast, and headed out of the lobby, on my way to the airport at 0610. I looked around at the business men who were doing the same and felt strangely odd in my three day old blue jeans and t-shirt my jet setting had a slightly different slant than theirs. I was checked in online for my flight so after picking up my boarding pass and going through security, which has become such a common place occurrence, I headed for my gate with a comfortable amount of time that allowed me to stop in the aforementioned line under the big green letters and wait for my morning coffee. It was here, in this line, that I realized how very different my world of jet setting was from the one that swirled around me. Almost all of the patrons standing with me had their little rolling brief cases and smart phones either up to their ears or in their palms texting away. The conversations were for the most part in English and so my ears pricked up to hear my mother tongue spoken. The gentlemen behind me was especially loud and animated in his conversation, what caught my attention was when I heard him say, “Just tell him to do his job and close the deal, I am not getting any younger and I want the money this one will make.” The rest of his conversation was about how bad things were, the morning, the markets, the factory he just inspected, and the way people were managing his various businesses. I was thankful the line was moving quickly. I stepped to the cashier, paid for my coffee and his too, I simply turned to him smiled and while he was still ranting on the phone, quietly said, “Hope your morning gets better,” with that I picked up my steaming cup and walked the last few steps to my gate literally boarding as I walked up. I don't think he realized what had happened before I was gone and all the while in my head I wanted to say…”Do you have any idea how much more to life there is?” I have just pulled myself away from the bedside of a child I have been struggling to keep alive so he could make it to surgery. I am tired as my heart is aching that I cannot do more to “fix-it” and now I stand beside the man who is “not getting any younger” and needs to make some more money and I wonder- does he have any clue what is truly of value, what will last for eternity. And then as I considered the conversation I wrap my hand even tighter around the hot cup I now hold, and pray hard that I would remember that I am not getting any younger, there is work to be done, and there is all eternity in view.