Everybody Understands a Smile

Some call it fate and some call it chance. But for whatever reason of all the people on the planet to sit next to me on the plane from New York City to Atlanta today was a young lady on the way to South America named Lorraine Pinto.

I noticed her dragging a much too heavy suitcase down the aisle of the plane. Being the southern gentleman my mama raised me to be, I attempted to put her heavy luggage in the overhead bin for her. But it was rather obvious it would not fit. So Lorraine had to take a lot of the clothes out of the bag so it would fit. I could tell she was probably a little embarrassed by the whole situation and since I could tell she was very appreciative of my help and the fact that her seat was next to mine – well we sort of struck up a conversation.

Lorraine lives in Ecuador and had been visiting friends in Queens in NYC. I must have been paying attention in my Geography class many years ago when the teacher told us about Ecuador because I knew two things about it. I knew it is a small country in South America and I knew it sits very close to the imaginary line that runs halfway between the North Pole and the South Pole on the globe. I really don’t know much about Ecuador other than those two bits of information.

Lorraine speaks English very nicely but she told me she sometimes has to think of the English word she wants to say. The problem she had today was she was sitting next to someone who speaks a little different version of English than they speak in New York City. So I got the idea she had to think more about what I was trying to say than what she was trying to say.

So being the nice Ecuador girl she is - she smiled a lot.

And my goodness does Lorraine Pinto have a great smile. And it doesn’t matter whether one comes from Reynolds Georgia or Guayaquil Ecuador, everybody can understand a smile.

Although I gave Lorraine this blog address and told her she would most likely find her picture here, I’m sure our paths will never cross again. And I will most likely one day forget her name.

But I will never forget her smile.

And if you want people to remember you, look them in the eye and smile. Everybody understands a smile.