Rhonda

Rhonda Shavers is perhaps the most positive person I have ever met in my entire life, or perhaps I just caught her at a good time. After watching The Bucket List a few years ago, Rhonda decided to pursue her dream of becoming a flight attendant. She has flown domestically for about a year now. A few days ago, a friend of hers named Elodie told Rhonda that she would be welcome to visit her in France for a few days while Elodie was in town. Without any notice or telling anyone (except her granddaughter, of course) Rhonda bought a last minute ticket for the first international flight of her life.

When I first saw Rhonda, I did not give her much thought because, as she was wearing her uniform, I knew that flight attendants did not sit among the regular passengers. Then I saw her looking at the seat numbers and knew that she was going to end up sitting next to me. She sat down, and within ten minutes we were talking. She had already increased my happiness factor of about 100. There is no way to explain in words her excitement. The flight experience was just so surreal to her because she had never gone abroad before, and as a woman of almost sixty, she would never have thought that she would start then.

She talked about how impressed she was that I was so mature at sixteen to be going abroad, and about how she understood now what the travel bug was and how good it was that we both now had it. She told me that she would one day see me on CNN, which I thought was quite amusing, seeing as we had barely known each other two hours at that time. She also said that I looked like Natalie Portman. I had never heard that comparison before, but I was pleased, nonetheless, since she is a bright actress in Hollywood, having graduated from Harvard with a four-year degree in psychology.

I do not think I have ever seen anyone more happy about a three day trip to France than she. The great thing about that is that happiness is contagious, and her joy spread all the way down to my toes!

When we finally arrived at CDG, she waited with me at baggage claim. I eventually realized that she did not have any luggage except her carry-ons and insisted that she go on and meet her friend Elodie, who was waiting for her. I sincerely hope that that is not the last of my encounters with Rhonda Shavers, and I hope that Paris is treating her well and living up to all of her expectations. :)