In the summer of 2020, I decided to take a trip to Michigan by myself, which was the first time I have ever flown alone on an airplane. During this flight I was seated next to a woman, named Nancy, who had shared with my how she was visiting her son for the first time in 7 years after being released from federal prison. Despite my initial confusion and caution, I engaged in a conversation with her, which ended up lasting the whole 4.5 hour flight. Throughout our talk, she shared her stories relating to her childhood, arrest, case trial, children, jail time, and the current situation she is experiencing after being released. Throughout our talk, we established a strong connection and discover a big coincidence between her and I, relating to a past event I participated in. 

To be honest, this podcast is a mess, as it is hard for me to talk about the emotions I was experiencing on this flight, along with the current living situation Nancy is experiencing. Since this episode involves different topics including drugs, prison, and death, it is difficult to fully demonstrate how impactful this story has been for me. I did stutter quite a lot in the episode, which I decided to keep in this episode, because I truly am still speechlessness and emotional about Nancy's story.

 I hope this episode is a good eye-opener to remind you how we are all connected, despite our different backgrounds, life stories, and situations. The world is a better place when we show empathy to people by listening, supporting, and understanding others, because you never know the newfound perspectives you will discover.