Dedication: Fred Flintstone

Fred Flintstone McBagonluri

My meeting with Fred McBagonluri was the flint that started the pile of mildewing mayhem and the fire within me to dust off my writing.

Burning can be the catalyst of change or the destruction of all. From where I stood, I could see once the fire started a plagued city was burning. This fire would purify and make me whole again. This dedication is my gratitude for our chance meeting.

I was stuck in Limbo and while there is no danger to a situation of limbo, the suspended menagerie of unclaimed infants in an area of not pleasure nor punishment has an effect on one. Life in Limbo is merely survival. There is no joy. There are no plans. Still, I was going to play it safe. I had written my children. My sisters had survived the storm, my brother with an understanding only we shared, was still. It was almost as if he too was hanging with the babies of purgatory. I had the pleasure of reading and re-reading the passages of conversations never spoken- wasn’t that enough?

Not for Fred.

Fred had been in Dulles that evening when after hours of waiting for a flight to NYC, I realized my weekend with Kimberly was not going to happen. The lounge was full of sleeping, hungry passengers and crying children. There was a stillness that comes from being in a place beyond its hours of operation. I love those moments- but from the looks I was getting as I strolled from gate to gate trying to figure out what I would do-I must be the only one to look at moments like that.

Then our eyes met, in that familiar “ I know you from somewhere look” and I approached him and asked,” Are you on the flight to Newark at 1:50 AM?”

“Yes.” He replied.

“Do you know what kind of equipment you’ll be on?”

“I hope a plane…” We both chuckled and I realized I never would have asked that question a year ago.

“We were on the flight last week together, remember? We were going to NYC from Charlotte.”

I stopped and for a moment felt a sliding door open from a moment not mine. There was familiarity but there was no meeting last week between Fred and me. This is just one of the small miracles that happen in life when we see things with our hearts and not our eyes. We exchanged some small talk and I discovered that he had been on the plane from Charlotte, North Carolina the week before. I realized later it was my daughter who had met Fred.

We exchanged cards and chatted more. With each sentence came a connection to a linage that connected the man from Ghana and me. He got his Doctorate at the University of Dayton my home town. He offered me a piece of gum at the stroke of midnight in a celebratory gesture as I told him of my birthday plans now interrupted. As I slowly discovered this man before me in the chance meeting in an airport I was buoyed with possibility and hope. Have faith in your dreams and never give up.

I decided I would get on that plane even though my flight to Laguardia was for the next morning. In that way I would be able to spend at least 24 hours with my daughter. Oddly, though I was not on the standby list I was granted passage. Later the words of the wise man from Ghana would encourage and push me to write:

I knew it the moment I saw you at the airport that we had met before. It is really an amazing life. Each time I travel I make it a point to meet someone who will touch and enhance my view about life. I have met and corresponded with octogenarians, who were unique and were part of my schedule through life. To have sat on the same planes a week apart with daughter and mother is not an accident. We are a part of each others schedule and it is a great schedule that will lead all of us to a unique sunrise of our lives.

You know you have the power with words! You should revisit your work. Write a page a day. I write in the traffic, at the airport, etc. I want to leave an inspiration behind long after this body has yielded to the inevitability of death. We’ll chat soon. You have positive energy that attract people to you and so you can touch the world with the power of your words and perhaps make it a little kinder, a little tolerant and a little gentle especially for all those who want a better life but can’t . Wouldn’t that be a beautiful thing? You are appreciated!

Coincidences are blessings reminding us to believe in the wonder of life…

Thank you Dr. Fred McBagonluri you are my humble hero, my inspiration and the blessing of that amazing encounter that made this book and many more to come, possible.