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You Sure Are Lucky...
Ken Morris
Northwest Airlines
Captain
Reprinted
with permission
from Passages
Magazine
It was a hot, muggy August afternoon,
and I had every
reason to feel sorry for myself. A comedy of hassles began
with the normal airport security gauntlet, followed by a random
drug test, and a missed flight home due to a number of
mechanical, weather and late inbound flight problems. Now my
flight home was full and late.
During the usual pandemonium at the gate, I noticed a 5-year-old
boy standing by his mother and watching me. He looked at me,
then my bag, then back at me.
Cautiously, he left his mother's side and slowly began to walk
toward me, glancing between my bag, his mother, and me.
"Great," I thought, "now I have to baby-sit a 5-year-old. My day
is now complete."
As he came closer, I was both relieved and alarmed that it
wasn't me he was after. It was my hat!
I started to tell him not to bother my things, but something
made me stop and watch. He stopped in front of my bag, looking
at my hat, then up at me.
With wide eyes, he gently touched the bill of my hat. Running
his index finger slowly along the edge, carefully touching the
emblem.
Again, he looked up at me, now smiling, but saying nothing. I
asked him if he would like to wear my captain hat.
He excitedly nodded his head, still smiling. I placed my hat on
his head, but it fell down around his ears. He didn't seem to
mind and held it up in the proper position with both hands. He
ran to show his mother, then back to me still smiling from ear
to ear.
With much reverence and ceremony, he slowly removed my hat with
both hands and presented it to me as though it were the crown
jewels.
I put my hat on and gave him an airplane card. This, too, he
held with both hands in awe.
After this exchange, he still hadn't spoken, although I knew he
was excited. I also was happy that I had been briefly distracted
from my self-pity fest.
Still holding the card carefully with both hands, he looked up
at me and said, "Mister, you sure are lucky."
"Yes," I said, "I sure am."
I contemplated the wisdom of a 5-year-old, as I got the last
seat on that flight home.
This story was
originally published in Passages,
a magazine published by Northwest Airlines especially
for its employees. Reprinted with permission.
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