Parking, and Re-creation.

his name is Mark.

youngish guy, i’d say mid twenties and kinda looked a little bit like Mark Brendanawicz. but i don’t think it was him.

[i mean it could have been him cos Mark has been out of the show for a season or two although i don’t think his name is actually ‘Mark’ in real life so he might have used that name. it’s not, Uncle Google says it’s ‘Paul Schneider’]

but he was the airport police “move along” guy who came over to me while i was park-and-waiting for my friend Beth at the airport in San Jose last nite and made me move along…

which i’m used to from Philly cos i used to do a fair number of airport runs there and the police/security on manning the drop-and-go strip there were generally a bunch of angry, moody, obnoxious unfriendly types [i once gave a guy my “ah, really?” face when he made me move despite there being no traffic and me being there making no difference and he stopped me and asked for the car papers and almost confiscated my car – chop!] and so very accustomed to that kind of treatment.

when i came around again he came over to my window and i asked him what the time was saying that we didn’t have a watch or a phone and asking if there was a place i could park and he said the best thing would be to just keep doing laps until my person arrived. but he was very friendly-like.

one lap later i pulled up and he came to me and asked if there was any luck and i asked if i had to go round again and he said no but if i could just pull forward and then for the next ten or twenty minutes he kept letting me pull forward a bit but basically stick around and wait for my people [Val had gone inside to find Beth and her sister when they arrived] and so he really did me a huge favour. when they finally did arrive, they came outside but by then i had moved forward and so Val thought i was doing another lap and took them inside again and there was nothing i could do so i called Mark over and asked him if he could grab then from just inside the door. he completely obliged.

and while i was waiting there i saw him assist two elderly women that were struggling and just generally be polite and courteous with everyone he came into contact with [even people in cars who he made move on]

so thank you Mark. [i am also learning to place huge emphasis on trying to know people’s names because otherwise he was just friendly airport guy and now he is Mark and he has a family and dreams and goals and pain and stuff and so it becomes that little bit more real] if we lived closer i would love to find you and take you out for coffee. in a few minutes you undid many minutes of frustration from previous Philly encounters and gave me hope.

and in the midst of all the people-getting-it-wrong noticing we do and mud flinging the power and beauty in taking a moment to celebrate a good deed or action.

any of you have a Mark this week?