I'm Major Jackson, and this is The Slowdown.

The Pilot announced that we would wait out a passing rainstorm on the runway.

I felt my usual frustration at being delayed.

But I did not fret.

I wasn't threatened with missing a connecting flight, unlike my neighbor.

He audibly sighed and huffed.

The cabin buzzed with travelers rescheduling their journeys.

The stewards came through with beverage orders.

My neighbor purchased a rum and Coke.

After a half hour, his agitation arose.

When the captain returned with another announcement, he said,

Can you believe this?

These airlines, they gowd you, but cannot make it through a little storm.

Until then, I was deep in a collection of poetry.

Good book?

Excuse me?

Are you enjoying the book?

I said, yeah.

Up until now, he laughed.

Over the next hour, I learned quite a bit about Charlie, as we eventually took to the sky.

He was a structural engineer who inspected bridges underwater. He was off to Seattle for a conference.

He was also going through a divorce. On this, I shared my experience. We talked forgiveness

...