Live to be Inspired : February 2011

At the Beijing airport on the first of February, I was told by the United Airlines front desk that I better reschedule my flight. Because of the record amount of snow that fell in the US, it was likely that I will be stuck at the Chicago airport for who knows how long.

"When is the next available flight? I asked.

"Miss Park, the earliest next flight out of Beijing will be on Feb 4th. Would you like to book the next flight?"

"What would you recommend?"

"I would stay put in Beijing if I were you. You're not likely going to get out from Chicago any time soon. It's a mess up there right now."

I had some decisions to make. My original plan was to fly from Beijing to Chicago, and then take the connecting flight from Chicago to New York. But now that my flight from Chicago to New York was cancelled, I could either stay in Beijing and wait until the snow clears up, or

just take a risk and jump on the flight to Chicago and go from there.

I knew no one from Chicago other than one of my good friends from Yale Law John-Paul,

but I decided to go ahead and take the chance. If I get stuck in Chicago, at least I will be fourteen hours closer to my destination than I would have been otherwise.

During the flight, I couldn't sleep. Maybe I was too hasty with my decision. The only thing people talked about around me was what they were going to do in Chicago and which hotels they have booked. The Chinese woman who sat next to me with her two twin sons said that she was going to see her husband in Virginia, but will probably have to stay in a hotel in Chicago for at least two nights because of the snow. Another Chinese family who sat right in front of me was going to see their son in Boston, and a guy sitting behind me named Bryan said that he was going to Albuquerque, NM.

I started getting nervous. The snow obviously wasn't going to go anywhere, and it seemed more and more likely that I would have no way out of Chicago. Not able to think about the gloomy prospect any longer, I got up my seat and walked towards the end of the aisle. There I met a flight attendant named Melanie.

We started talking about the weather, traveling, Melanie's cute airplane-shaped broach studded with cubics, and more. Melanie quickly figured out that I was into fashion, and she said she had something perfect to show me. She took out her laptop from her rainbow laptop case, and pulled up pictures of the most gorgeous girl that I have seen in my life-Supermodel Alexandra Tomlinson.

It turns out that Alexandra is Melanie's daughter (she has Melanie's beautiful green-hued eyes that changes colors depending on the lighting). Melanie had some great stories with Alexandra being a model. Starting from Facebook's co-founder Chris Hughes wooing after her to Alexandra's agency telling Alexandra that her face is too fat when she weighs mere 115 pounds at her six feet frame, being a top model was no easy task.

Melanie had all of Alexandra's photos neatly organized in slideshows, and she knew exactly when&where each photo was taken. I could tell from her voice that she was extremely proud of her daughter.

Talking about fashion with Melanie made me forget everything that was on my mind. Even being stranded in Chicago didn't seem that bad anymore.

Sure, neither of us was tall nor skinny enough to be a real supermodel, but who said you had to be 6ft tall and 115 pounds to be in a runway that you create for yourself?

Within our imaginations, we were strutting down a catwalk in Valentino's red velvet dress draped around our waists.

Within our imagination, we were drenched in the intense lighting from the ceiling, and blinded by the hundreds of flashlights coming our way.

Within our imagination, fashion no longer was a trend to take note, but a window to a different world of destiny.

20,000 ft above ground level, Melanie and I were having our own runway show.