I've always had the most interesting and at times very deep conversations and encounters when flying. Back when I used to smoke cigarettes one time in between flights on a layover I had some chit chat with a gentleman outside. I honestly don't remember how this topic came up, maybe in the context of being grateful for our family, but he said his wife had saved him by taking him to the hospital a long time ago when he had contracted cat scratch fever.

Now, I had never really imagined that was a real disease - thinking it was just the theme of a famous classic rock song - but apparently it is, and the odds of meeting someone who had contracted it (he was scratched by a feral cat he took in) was just amazing to me. That had happened a long time ago to him...

oh now I remember, we were talking about how bad smoking was for our health (lol this is sometimes a common topic with smokers) and he was talking about how he had a brush with death in the past. This isn't the first time the topic of death has come up while outside smoking in-between flights, either. I think flying has a way of making people contemplate their mortality.