Barf Bag

I wish I would have kept that simple airplane barf bag.

Was it used?

Yeah, kinda. Not exactly, but somewhat.

And you still want to keep it?

Yes, I wish I would have kept it. Here is why:

Written on it was a simple note. It was handed back to me from the lady sitting in front of us on our plane ride from Denver to DFW. I don’t know the lady..never talked to her. She was traveling with her daughter, son-in-law and 2 grandsons. We had all been in the waiting area for awhile since we were delayed boarding. We were probably over half way through our 2 hour flight, but already we had been on the plane a long time since we sat 45 min just waiting to take off. Jairus had looked out the window quite a bit. We had looked at the pictures in the airline magazine. We had a shared a snack of Ginger Ale and some Vanilla Wafers. Really, Jairus was doing great being confined to our little area for so long. I told him how proud I was of him and that I loved to go on trips with him. We were taking turns coloring in a special pre-school book. We were minding our own business and looking forward to being home. Then it came. The barf bag handed back over the seat to me. Written on it was a note that said “You are a great mommy.” I smiled and with my green crayon, I wrote “thanks” and passed it back up.

But as we sat there I had two reasons why I wished I would have kept the bag (and even kinda schemed how I could get it back as we got off the plane). One was just for plain old fashioned encouragement. True, this lady doesn’t know me. She didn’t see me get frustrated or worn out or not feed Jairus enough vegetables. She just saw me for one window of time. But at least for one window of time I did something right. Hopefully over Jairus’ lifetime those windows of time will outweigh the many many times that I don’t.


Second reason I wanted to keep that bag was as a reminder. I also need to look for ways to encourage others with random acts of kindness like this. She handed me a barf bag for crying out loud! Yet, on it was a message that brought me encouragement and even now, a couple weeks later it still has an impact on me. I want to look for ways to make someone else’s day brighter. Maybe make sure the manager knows when our waiter has done a great job. Maybe have kind words for the checker at Wal-mart. Maybe encourage a young mother someday. I don’t know. But I want my eyes to be open to see those opportunities.


As we deplaned it didn’t work out for me to try to find that barf bag in that seat in front of me. So, I write this blog as a reminder. Somehow, I doubt I will ever forget that airplane barf bag.