No medals required

I made it home intact this afternoon. But not before meeting a lovely man in line at the check-in counter. He asked me a question, I responded, he laughed, we kept talking. I happened to be switching my flight to be on the same flight as him -- yippee -- but was having second thoughts. Paying an extra $50 to leave a couple of hours earlier just didn't seem worth it.

But the thought of getting to hang out with him for a couple of hours before boarding our flight seemed worth it to me. So I went ahead and made the change. And they never charged me the $50 fee. Clearly, this has been my lucky air travel vacation.

So the gentleman and I had a lovely visit and exchanged meaningful glances business cards. When it was time to go our separate ways, he made a point of telling me that he'd e-mail me. I won't exactly hold my breath, but it's just darn nice to feel like someone's interested in striking up a conversation with me.

In fact, this happened a few times to me over the past few days, and each time made me feel pretty special. I'm not typically the kind of fella who's good at starting conversations, so each time one of these handsome men started chatting with me, I had to stop from looking over my shoulder to see if he was really addressing someone behind me. And in each case, it was really me he was interested in meeting. And, while I may not be great at initiating a conversation, give me an opening and I'll carry the ball past the goal line for the winning touchdown.

Now, I know that starting a conversation means nothing. It's not like an invitation to jump in the sack or propose marriage. Still, I'd like to think that this is how I'll someday meet Mr. Right -- with a few casual words and shared laughs. I still hold out hope, and having some lovely conversations like that helped me keep the hope alive.

And in each case, I didn't even have to wear my medals to impress the conversation starter. Jeepeers, just think how in-demand I would be if I had been one of those posers people who walked around with their medals around their necks 24/7.