Airports

My sister flew home on Wednesday, and I took her to the airport. The official name of the airport is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, and the terminal building is very new, opening in 2019. I knew the old airport terminal building like the back of my hand, having flown in and out and picked up company hundreds of times in the years that I have lived here.

The new terminal building is still unfamiliar, what with COVID and Cecil's cancer, the airport hasn't been a place I visited much in the last four years.

The new terminal building, however, is simply beautiful. Lots of windows and glass, and quartz that sparkles in the terrazzo floor. They keep the building super clean, and there are lots of people to help, and so far, in my experience, everyone working there is as nice as can be. This new airport usually has live music, and represents the warmth and hospitality of New Orleans well.

Airports remind me of the amazing world we live in. Where you can be across the country or the globe in a relatively short time. Airports remind me of the commonality of humanity. As we check our bags and wait to go through security, we are all impatient and either sad to be leaving, or excited to be going somewhere, or both.

I am lucky to have traveled internationally, and even in an airport where everyone is speaking a language I don't speak or understand, there is a way to navigate the process and get where you need to be. Airports are marvels of coordination and communication, even though we mostly don't see that. We see long lines at check-in and security, and long waits for baggage to be delivered from the plane. We see flights delayed and cancelled, and people rushing not looking where they are going as instead they are looking at signs or their phones.

But Wednesday, I wasn't going anywhere but back home. I waited until my sister got through security to leave the airport. They have set up the airport such that you can go to the fourth level and watch someone all the way through the security process. As I waited and watched I marveled at the magical world we live in. People from everywhere going everywhere. Thousands of employees doing their jobs to make that experience as unremarkable as possible for the traveling public.

It is easy to get caught up in what is wrong and what is broken, and of course, most everything can be improved, can be better. But I am very grateful that I was able to see the wonder at the airport on Wednesday.

Our world is full of wonder, and wonderful full things, and people. It is a gift when we are able to see that.