In a national corporation,
where the value of an individual with specific experience and skill set is in
demand, I found myself traveling across the country on a very regular basis. Some times I would be asked to present to a
very important client and design team.
Other visits required me to walk on to job sites wearing a safety helmet,
vest and safety glasses (Yep! I would
take them on the plane as well). Other
times I would travel to meet the various Tecta offices who needed more
education on how to sell and install green roofs. My favorite visits involved evaluating an
existing green roof system and why it may be failing; and make recommendations
on how to fix it – and within a budget.
There were many memorable
days and nights of travel, as one could expect.
The 7+ hour delays in Newark, O’Hare, Birmingham, Atlanta, etc ; the
occasional flight upgrade or chance to grab an earlier flight; and of course the variety of characters you
meet along those travel hours.
One visit to Minneapolis I was waiting to return to Baltimore.
I had just finished an installation that dragged out, but I had a chance
to visit with many of my family members who lived in town. The flight was delayed, only 30 minutes or
so, and we were finally on the runway waiting for clearance. The pilot started to describe what was actually
happening…. We were just further delayed because a set of eye balls just became
available, and they were needed at the Johns Hopkins transplant unit. WHAT?!
I had never heard of such a thing.
Well, I plan to be an organ donor and everything, but I had never had an
incident so closely brush my world.
The
ambulance soon arrived at the plane; I thought I saw a small box loaded into
the cargo area. The pilot then announced that because we were
now flagged as “transporting an organ” (I am sure the FAA has a better word for
that) we were going to be re-routed to the most direct flight pattern possible
at top speed, and we’d certainly arrive early!
Well, that was a sweet deal!
The whole time on the
plane, I felt a little weird. Here was
an instant situation where I knew someone had died and someone else is going to
benefit greatly from this unfortunate circumstance. At least one family had great hope that their
loved one would be healed within two hours.
And, just as weird, there
was a possibility of a set of cold eyes sitting on top of my checked bag.
The only thing that
trumped this was a completely separate incident where I found myself staring at
a coffin waiting out in the bag handlers’ area while the planes were getting
loaded up. I was hoping desperately the
coffin wasn’t going to be loaded on my plane.
AUGH. I still don’t know where
that one ended up…
Anyway, by the time we
arrived at BWI, the plane shuttled at top speed to the gate. As the announcements wrapped up, the pilot reiterated
what a privilege it was for him to be able to deliver the gift of sight to
someone who needed it that day.
As you enjoy this
wonderful spring, and see the beauty of green roofs exploding out of dormancy
into various greens, reds, and flowers, keep in mind how fortunate we are with
what we have!!
