Lily (Stranger #69/100), NYC JFK Airport
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Added 1414018771 by flatworldsedge.
Lily is from Phoenix, Arizona. We met at JFK airport as she headed home from a solo trip to New York City. We talked about the differences West US to East US, and she noted the more reserved culture this side, that in some ways it might be a better thing. And talked about her trip.
Her tour around NYC was a pilgrimage of kinds, seeing all the sights her boyfriend - a New Yorker by birth - had told her about, from the showstopping global monuments to the little corners and neighbourhood relics one only knows as a local. She described seeing the sunset in a small park below Brooklyn Bridge. Places they'd talked about seeing together, before he passed away just a little while ago.
It's hard to describe the impact of her story, and in describing it to others I've failed to elevate it properly from what might sound like one of sadness. The way Lily told it, it was one of the most inspiring narratives I can recall. Somehow complete, energising, significant and soaringly perfect.
When we'd walked back to Lily's gate, having shot five minutes walk away at Gate #69 where the late afternoon light drifted in hot and golden, we wished each other luck and I simply put my camera away.
Full details about my 100 Stranger Project on the link to the right...