SO much of how we feel about our lives has to do with our daily interactions with others - from the folks we see every day, to the seemingly "unimportant" little things. I am thinking about two very different travel incidents....

Amtrak: for sit-down meals, you are seated family-style. So I was traveling alone and the server directed a group of three to my table. But they took a look at me and then swerved to quickly sit down at the next completely-unoccupied table (which boogered up the overall seating plan for the servers). The server had pointed them where to go, and had to take a deep breath to not let the exasperation show. Their explanation was that they "Didn't want to split up." Obviously, since they would still be all together at the table in any case, they wanted to keep the conversation within the group and not have to meet someone new. We Amtrak-lovers enjoy the fun people you meet at meals, and I missed the positive energy that mealtimes always have.

But I remembered it a week later when I was on Alaska Air, on a 1/3 filled flight where I had the aisle and a quiet young gent was blissing out on his ipod in the window seat. The flight attendant came thru the cabin and told us that we could move anywhere we wanted. "Meh," sez me. "Do you want to move? I'll get up, no problem." He didn't care to move either. very little chatting but a comfortable energy for the flight.

Such a difference. Lots more room at table on Amtrak, but it felt, in its own little way, lonelier. Even when we don't say it in words, there is a comfort in being welcomed, in having one's presence valued.

As we approach the holiday of Thanksgiving, let's look for ways to be welcoming, to be grateful for the little acts of "yes" that we can incorporate into every day. There are NO little human acts.

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