john maddente | midwestern clarity

B elow is a humble cocktail napkin from a recent flight.  The inscription -- which I failed to notice at first -- has a richer significance.  John Maddente photo After I buckled up, a man next to me begin to banter with our flight attendant who obviously loved her work (I'll call her Laura).  Although he gave me permission to identify him for this post, I recall only his last name -- Weingarten.  Back to the flight... Laura and Mr. Weingarten appeared to know one another rather well.  When Laura left to serve other passengers, Mr. Weingarten pointed out that both of our napkins contained this friendly, hand-written, greeting and that she had produced one for him on a previous flight.  What I learned next was my inspiration for this post. Mr. Weingarten explained that on a previous flight, two other flight attendants took notice of Laura's gracious attitude toward her c...