July 28, 2024

I stood and let her pass.  The odd airplane shuffle took place. Sliding pass, she sat down in the window seat and slid the red and orange bag under the seat.  There were more than colors to the bag, but with an aisle full of anxious people waiting to find their seat I returned to my middle seat and failed to pay full attention.  Sitting down we looked at each other, smiled, and said nothing.

Pulling the bag from under the seat as the stewards left us with a drink can and a cup of ice on pull-down meal trays, she explored the bags interior.  I now could see a series of horizontal triangular black and blue forms on the worn but not torn bag.  Lending their shapes to the oranges and reds they reminded of my childhood canyon sunsets.

Years of sun had darkened and textured her arms.  Giving to isles of brown, tan, and blue.  I thought of her as old as I turned attention to my own arms.  If we weren’t siblings in the landscape of place, we certainly were in the landscape of years.

Sitting up, she leaned back against the straight back seat holding a plastic container.  Her foot pushed the bag back under the seat.  Looking my way she smiled like an eight-year-old who’s gotten away with something.  Lifting the edge of the lid, she looked in.  Her smile broadened.

Her eyes met mine again.  Then she glanced back and forth between the container and me.  My inclination was to shake my head no.  But my gut said yes.  I nodded.  We ate.

For the next few hours we flew.  Together.  Though we did not have language we passed phone photos back and forth.  She slept.  I read.  Then we shuffled our way down the aisle, entered the airport, and lost view of one another.

****

Indigeneity is a call to place.  But there are those moments when we feel lost and not sure of place.  In those times, when place alludes us, space matters.  For in our space—even an airplanes middle seat—kinship is present.  Sometimes we forget that as Creation’s people there are a multitude of kin who are with us in every moment—occasionally they are people.  In those moments, when we remember that ours is a natural siblingship with creation, our mind has the opportunity to calm, our being relax, our spirit liven, and our interior smile.

And as an extra a meal may be offered.