Thanksgiving Flight Home

Normally when I fly I expect the trip to be pretty uneventful. Especially around the holidays, I just get ready for busy airports and full flights with not enough leg room and babies crying for an hour and a half. However, this past Monday night brought quite a surprise. As I was boarding the plane I figured I should try an approach different than just going to the back to find an empty row. So, towards the front of the plane I noticed a pleasant looking woman who had tons of carry-on luggage. I sat on the aisle seat of her row and she warned me that she often works on needle point, so I should watch out. As I was laughing a young lady asked if she could sit next to me. That doesn't happen every day, so I quickly moved over as she took the aisle seat.
After that, it was the fastest flight I've ever taken! The young lady and I talked for half of the flight. She is actually my age and is also attending BYU; that was a first for a seat buddy on a plane! We had a great talk, then she had to finish a paper that needed to be e-mailed by the end of the night. So, I sat quietly for a moment when the woman on my other side started asking me questions about the conversation I had just had with the other girl. At first I thought it was comical, but she just kept talking to me so I started to really listen and engage in a full conversation. It turns out that this woman is the daughter of a famous visual effects designer and engineer from the old-school Hollywood days!
She had so many stories to tell about growing up in Hollywood and playing on the sets of many blockbusters. We talked about the movies her father worked on and the things he invented for movies that were later bought and used for commercial and military use. We also discussed her opinions on how film-making and the quality of films has changed over the years. She is very disappointed with movies in today's world. She says it's all about the special effects and nobody knows how to tell great stories that inspire and leave us wanting more. It was one of the most interesting conversations of my life. I am very involved in live theater and my brother loves to make live and animated movies, so we talked about the things we could do together and I promised her that if my brother and I ever make something worth the public eye, that it would have an incredible story! Anyway, I was on cloud nine and I could have talked to her for the rest of the night! I could go on for quite a while about our dialogue, but I think I'll stop now and hopefully leave you wanting more! Needless to say, I am really looking forward to my flight back to Provo this weekend!