Gummy Bears, The Brendas, and Hope.

I went to Colorado for 42 hours this weekend, kind of unexpectedly.

A group of my professional friends were getting together for a retreat, and I was able to jump in at the very last second.

I kind of had no expectations for the weekend, but knew time with my friends always pays dividends, so I hopped on an airplane early Saturday morning.

The flight was super crazy full- and Southwest does general seating. I walked up the aisle like an awkward 7th grader, trying to find a place to sit.

I noticed an open seat between two women and asked if I could sit with them. The woman in the aisle seat smiled and slid over. 

I thanked them, sat down, and opened my laptop to work. 

About halfway through the flight, an open bag of Goldfish suddenly appeared over my keyboard. I looked at the friendly woman offering to share her snack and smiled back. 

"No thanks," I said. "I'm good."

She smiled at me and nodded.

Two minutes later, a bag of open gummy bears was thrust in front of me. I leaned over and noticed both women smiling. I opened my mouth to politely decline, and heard myself say, "You know what, I do like gummy bears."

I poured a bunch into my hand, thanked the women, and continued working on an article I was writing.

After about an hour, the woman on my left tapped my arm. I took my earbuds out and smiled at her.

"What's your name?" she asked. "Is it Brenda?"  

Amused by the randomness of the question, I laughed and said, "No, it's Katy."

Both women smiled. "Oh, we are both named Brenda. We were hoping your name was Brenda too." 

More gummy bears made their way toward me as the Brendas and I started to talk.

We connected easily. I learned about their trip, their plans, their lives. I told them about my family, my friends, my work. I told them about the joys and struggles of starting a school. I told them how much I love my students. 

We ate more gummy bears.  I friended Middle Seat Brenda on Facebook.

When we landed, Window Seat Brenda handed me an unopened bag of gummy bears.  

The simple gesture struck me.

"Thanks," I told her. "I'm going to bring this to school on Tuesday morning and share them with the kids. I want them to know there is way more good than bad in the world."

Because it's true. There are way more kind people- like the Brendas- out there than there are mean and selfish people. But too often, we have our earbuds in and we miss them gently tapping us on the arm.

Thank you Brendas for using gummy bears to truly revive my hope in other people. Aisle 20 forever!