Grace on the Flight to Yerevan

Boarding the plane from Paris to Yerevan, Case and I went to our aisle seats across from each other and thought we’d have a quiet 4 hour flight.  We had a 30 minute connection from Rome and the arrival and departing gates couldn’t have been further apart at Charles de Gaulle Airport.  Running to the gate for Yerevan, we arrived with 5 minutes to spare and so we were delighted to think the seats next to us were empty.  We could sleep. 

However, we sat on the tarmac for 40 minutes and as we did, more and more Armenians trickled onboard.  A delightful woman, Hasmine and her four year old daughter Allesandra sat next to me, complete with Armenian Barbie and other entertainment options for a four year old girl.  Hasmine is Armenian, but moved to Germany 15 years ago.  She met her Greek husband there and so she lives quite the multicultural life!  She speaks German, Greek, and Armenian with a little bit of English.  Between my lapsed German and her broken English, we were able to carry on a great conversation, but I could tell that she was going to talk the entire flight to Yerevan.  Allesandra also was quite busy—so no quiet flight!  About ten minutes later, Hasmine squealed with delight when mother and aunt arrived.   The aunt’s designated seat was in the center by Case.  But she wanted the aisle seat and nothing else would do!   Case politely obliged out of respect while the air host said he didn’t have to do that.  The mother was seated on the aisle one row ahead of us and there was non-stop talking between them.   Realizing that these four females needed to be seated together, we did some major swapping with Case and me ending up with aisle seats one row ahead of where we were seated.   On my seat next to the window was an Armenian woman curled up asleep, but she woke up and said the reason her row was empty was because she had the flu.  I took my chances anyway and all worked out well. 

Warm Welcome:  Armenian Hospitality
from two priests at Surb Hripsime Church

Perhaps it is an anomaly of airline travel today to write what  I am about to say.  Grace happens even on airplanes when you least expect it.  Just before we took off, the Air France hosts moved the divider between Business Class and Coach from two rows in front of Case and me to just behind us.  Voila!—we were upgraded to Business Class apparently for our kind deed in getting the Armenian women together!  We had a wonderful Air France meal with great wines and splendid service and were shown a nice French movie with English subtitles:  The Well Digger’s Daughter.  It is very sentimental, perhaps a cliché, but a delightful movie.  If you are looking for romantic schmarm, get it on Netflix.   

My new row mate, Gayane, also watched the movie and although we had “maintained our distance” because of her flu, I was able to let the air hosts know what she wanted  when the service came around (they couldn’t hear  or understand her).  When the movie was over, we both commented on how nice it was and that was the beginning of a great conversation.  Gayane speaks fairly good English and it turns out that she works in nation development with the United Nations, particularly with Aids prevention and education.  She was flying home from a 2 week International Aids symposium sponsored by the U. N. in San Paulo, Brazil.   She was familiar with the work of the Aids Action Coalition in the United States, but once she found out I was a priest, we began a great conversation about the church’s response to HIV/Aids.  She was impressed with the Episcopal Church’s position in supporting education and prevention, but also of treating people with respect and dignity.  We both had much to learn from each other.  It is invaluable to reach across language barriers and be in dialog about how we can improve the human condition of all people in our global village.  Mutual compassion and ministry breaks down walls and fuels grace. 

Gayane was met at the airport by her husband, Thom (!) and her 26 year old son Artyam.  They gave us a ride to our hotel in Yerevan  and they have become great friends, helping us around Yerevan, and especially Artyam, introducing us to the vibrant café life in Yerevan (something my son Case really appreciates!). 

Looking out over Yerevan from the top fo the Cascade

The fruit of reaching out to others continues.  Having a late dinner in the city center of Yerevan, we ran across a doctor from Los Angeles (where the largest number of diaspora Armenians live in the United States) and he told us about the Medical Congress he was on that brought together Armenians from Armenia and the United States.  On Sunday, while visiting the historical site at Garni, Case and I ran into ten of these medical folks from Los Angeles and turns out they live near daughter Sally.  They promised to look her up when they return Petite Bateau!   Another connection for friendship because Case and I will join them for a Yerevan outing before we leave. 

But we still had another surprise of grace…Hasmine and her family were also at Garni on Sunday and you would have thought we were long lost relatives who had not seen each other for 20 years. Hasmine came running up to us and nothing would do except that we accept their invitation to their home a week from Sunday for an Armenian Feast! 

Mother Armneia Standing Guard over Yerevan

The people here have large and beautiful hearts.  You do not meet a stranger.  Grace truly is exponential and while most times you don’t always see how that works, when you do, you are always astounded.  An astonished heart is not a bad thing to have. 






Pax