Tag Archives: LAX

So Many Wonderful People to Meet! (And I Met A Lot of Them in LA Last Weekend)

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So many wonderful people to meet in the world – and I met a whole lot of them on my weekend trip to LA!

There was Heath who was sleeping on this way cool Inflatable bed in one of the waiting areas at Sea-Tac. When he woke up, he told us he’d bought his bed to use for the work he does on the north slope of Alaska. When he deflated it – and he did that really quickly – it fit into this tiny bag that he stuffed in his backpack.

Not long after Heath left to board his flight home to Boise, we met Aubrey, who was flying with her mom, dad, brother, and younger sisters to LA. Aubrey and I talked a bit about our travels and I learned that she’d gone to the Philippines on a mission with the LDS church when she was out of high school. I told Aubrey that, as a teacher, some of my favorite students had been LDS because they were always polite and respectful, and were able to share what they believed without being argumentative. I admitted that I’d guessed they were an LDS family and had assumed they’d be taking the flight to Boise. Aubrey and her family nodded their heads and laughed at this, and Aubrey’s mom said they did indeed use to live in Idaho.

The day after I landed at LAX, my daughter-in-law, Christina, brought me to the annual Swirl Surfskater fest in Venice Beach, founded by women to cultivate community through skateboarding. It was so fun! There were free things and special deals and friendly people and PUPS! I was in Karen-heaven.

Christina introduced me to her friend, Gonzo, who has a shop that sells jewelry made by women in his home country of Kenya. (I bought two pairs of earrings because I could not choose just one.) Gonzo is one of those people who just radiates pure love. I felt an immediate connection to him. When we parted we both simultaneously put our hands over our hearts in recognition of kindred spirits.

Out on the beach, a woman was selling colorful bags of fruit. I was impressed by how she was transporting them – on top of her head! – and asked her if I could take her picture, before buying a bag of mangos from her. It was a HUGE bag! I ended up going around, asking random people if they’d like a piece of mango – the young woman sitting on the bench behind me, the young man sitting on the other side of the bench (they both said “Yes, thank you!”), a group of motorcyclists, who smiled and declined. Giving away mango bits is a good way to meet strangers.

There was Seamus pup with a pink mohawk, and Buttons and Brooklyn pups with very chic pompoms on their heads; there were beautiful people handing out free things – Odalis, Charlotte, Tatum, and Niora; and Riley, who was creating discounted tattoos at the tattoo booth; and there was this wonderful family – Nasim, Esme, and Linus – selling “LIVE A LOT” caps designed by the youngster of the family, Linus. (I bought a red cap with cheery yellow letters.)

We ate at some very cool eateries while we were there, and were served by some amazing folks at the Cafe Gratitude, and the Buena Vida Tea Bar and Garden.

We visited the Vietnamese Market in Westminster on Saturday night, where I ordered a boba drink from Jing, and snapped a photo of some cool shoes being worn by Matthew.

When we got to LAX for our return trip, I needed to get some beverage in me – I was really thirsty. I went to the Peet’s Coffee shop where I saw a green drink being made by the barista. At that moment, Jose came up to claim the drink – he was bringing it to a coworker – and I asked him what the drink was. Jose told me it was a matcha tea and that nobody made a better one that his friend, the barista, Dylon. Dylon guided me through the process of ordering a matcha – what kind of milk? sweetened or unsweetened? Dylon told me some people really like matcha and some people really don’t – and then he waited to see my reaction. It was really good! “You did good, bud,” I told him, and he grinned.

I went to get pizza at the pizza shop next door, and Elena – who was very kind – was sorry to tell me they were all out of pizza, but she pointed me in the direction of another pizza shop. When I got to the Wolfgang Puck pizza place, a woman stopped me to ask about my amber necklace, and then I remarked on her necklace – which she told me actually has a little light inside it. I love meeting fellow rock-lovers, and Batman let me take a picture of all her rock jewelry.

We’d gotten to LAX a few hours early, and, in the waiting area for our plane, I saw a flight attendant standing there and asked her if she was going to be the flight attendant for our flight out. She grinned and said she was! I told her I’d never seen a flight attendant waiting in the waiting area before, and it was cool to actually meet the flight attendant for our flight before we got on board. She laughed and said she’d arrived early and that’s why she was there – and noted that I’d arrived early, too. We introduced ourselves – she introduced herself as “Michelle” and I introduced myself as “Karen, because you’ve got to have at least one Karen on your flight, and I’m yours.” She laughed and agreed it was important to have a Karen on board. Later on, when we were in-flight, Michelle and I waved at each other and she introduced me to the other flight attendant as her friend, Karen. I told the other attendant that Michelle and I were old friends now, and Michelle nodded in agreement.

Heaven Everywhere

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I admit I was nervous about traveling to LAX this week. I was flying with Alaska Airlines, and they’d had a spot of trouble last week. Also I was concerned there might be a dearth of air traffic controllers – seeing as how these heroic folks haven’t been paid for the last week I wouldn’t have blamed any of them for leaving to find work that would provide them with income. So it was with some trepidation – and a lot of prayer – that I I started my journey to Los Angeles on Tuesday morning.

There had been moments before my trip when I’d had this sense of certainty that Love was with me, preparing my way for me, leading me. I was motivated by Love to travel to California to see my son, daughter-in-law, and grandbaby, and I knew this was a right desire, and could only lead to Good. At those moments, I determined that my mission was to shine love on everyone I encountered on my trip. But, every now and then, a news headline would hit my newsfeed that had me doubting again. There was a battle going on in my thoughts between fear and happy anticipation to see my loved ones again.

My husband drove me the hour and a half to Sea-Tac (bless him!) and dropped me off at the departures door. Now it was just me and Love. It took practically no time to find the security line – and I was, like, the second person in line! I got through the whole security line in probably three minutes!

Once I was on the other side, I went in search of a restroom. There was a flight attendant in the restroom, standing by the sinks, cleaning out her bag – apparently she’d spilled something in it. I asked her if she was going to LAX, and she said she was – I told her we were going to be on the same plane then. Her job, I said, was one of the hardest jobs in the world – flight attendants have to serve and take care of everyone else first, but they’re dealing with the same difficulties as everyone else on the flight. She smiled and nodded and said that yup, we’re all in the same boat together. I asked her if she’d had any problems last week while Alaska Airlines’ technology wasn’t working, and she said she and her crew had been grounded 12 hours someplace. Yikes! But here she was – ready to get on another plane and serve her passengers. Another hero. She indicated – pointing to her bag – she was feeling a little frazzled at the moment, but I told her (and this was true) she totally looked put together, and I felt reassured knowing she was going to be on the plane with me.

An hour later, when I boarded my flight, I saw Sheryl there, greeting people at the door, smiling. I said, “We made it!” and she started laughing.

The flight to Los Angeles was incredibly quick and smooth – I think we landed early. And when I got there, my beautiful daughter-in-law and precious granddaughter were there to pick me up. My daughter-in-law set my little granddaughter down about ten yards away from me and let her race to me, a big grin on her face. I scooped her up and held her close and felt myself in heaven.

I was only in LA for three days – but it was chock full of joy and hope and good people. It was chock full of love. And it was so good to be with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandbaby again.

We went to the neighborhood playground and I climbed the equipment with my grandbaby and enjoyed watching her work her way around the big toys; We stopped at Shawn’s Pumpkin Patch https://shawnspumpkinpatch.com/ , where we met Whitney and Dennis, and I had fun volunteering to take family photos for the other tourists; We strolled down the Santa Monica Pier, and stepped into the photo booth for some pics; We went to the Cafe Gratitude for dinner and met sweet Kiara pup standing in line with her human there; The next day we went to the The Butcher’s Daughter for lunch – that day I was proudly wearing my Mariners shirt and I asked one of the servers if he was a Dodger’s fan – he said no, but I found out he was a Yankees fan, and I had fun talking baseball with him for a quick minute; I bought fresh-squeezed lemonades from Mike at Hot Dog on a Stick in Santa Monica – and I really wanted to give Mike a tip for his genuine kindness to me, but he wouldn’t take one – he graciously allowed me to snap his photo, though, and laughed when I introduced myself as a Boomer named Karen – passing my Karen test; Then my daughter-in-law, grandbaby, and I sat and listened to Ian Bradley and his drummer make music next to the Hot Dog on a Stick restaurant while we sipped our lemonades. I dropped a donation in their box and got thanked and twirled for my humble gift.

The morning of my last day there, my daughter-in-law brought me to a music-in-the-park event for toddlers hosted by the musician, Ryoji. And oh! Once again, I felt I was in heaven. The music, the youngsters, the parents and grandparents and nannies – of every color, race, and ethnicty – enjoying music and dancing together and showing love to one another – isn’t this heaven?!

In the afternoon my son drove me to LAX for my trip back to Sea-Tac. We gave each other big hugs goodbye, reminded each other we’d see each other again soon at Christmas, and I headed for the security line.

I got in line behind a woman who just radiated good will and kindness. I told her I’m always a little nervous about going through security – afraid I’ve accidentally committed some security transgression (this time I accidentally wore my cellphone into the full body scan, but – thank goodness! – the TSA official clocked the cellphone before he scanned me – he said cellphones are 99% of the reason the scanner alarms go off – yikes!). My new friend, Alia, laughed and yawned and said she was too tired to be nervous about that today. We got to talking then, and learned we were both on the same flight to Seattle! How cosmic! I followed Alia through the security line and then we both went separate directions in search of food. But we met up again in the waiting area before we boarded the plane, and got to talking about our families, the goodness of people, and kindness. Heaven again!

I met so many wonderful new friends on my trip! And every place I went I found heaven.