Can I borrow your pants?

Hey, can I borrow your pants? This story is not like the sisterhood of the travelling pants, but pants are shared. I’ll get back to this.

On a recent business flight back from Tucson AZ to Victoria I met a lovely young man in his late 30’s.

I learned that he was an accomplished physicist who came to the US in 2011 from Russia. As often happens during first time conversations, it took time to get into the flow with him and his somewhat broken English, and me in my emotionally curious stance towards meeting and getting to know people.

I quickly discovered that he loved to read. He was doing a little light reading. The book was something about solving mathematical equations that are impossible. LIGHT – I think not.  We actually had a little giggle over this. He tried to explain to me that it was easy once you understand.

He loves to play music and had just taught himself how to play the accordion last month. He explained to me that music is simply algorithms which are manipulated to produce the finest and most beautiful sounds.  We decided music was MUCH more than that.

I listen to music without any preconceived ideas of how the music is made. I simply enjoy it. He too clearly loves music, but his perspective seemed as though we were speaking different languages.

He went on to tell me had he not been oppressed as a child; he would have been something really special. That part I found sad. Did I mention he’s a physicist? That seems pretty special to me. He told me his Mom did the best job she could, but she was single mother and raising two boys was very hard for her, especially in Russia.

I was a single mother for eight years. It was difficult, and at times overwhelming. I can only imagine how difficult it would have been in Russia.  He went on to say his mother sacrificed everything for her children.

She was very strict. She worried they would not grow up to be successful. Their father had been a raging alcoholic, and his parents had divorced when he was seven. His father was mostly MIA throughout his childhood, and for that reason they were estranged.

He then showed me a video of him ballroom dancing – WOW! It was beautiful. He began to share with me how he had become a ballroom dancer. His eyes lit up and his posture changed as he spoke. It was clear he loves to dance.

He shared with me that his love of dance began when he was very young, around six.  Like music, he regards dancing as simple algorithms that when practiced and techniques applied, produce a beautiful art. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.

He told me that at one point his mother did not have the money for lessons, and that if not for his coach who saw in him great talent he would not have been able to continue.

It was during one of his dance competitions that his coach really stepped up. Pants were a requirement, yet Borris had no pants. His coach lent him his so that he could compete.

The moral of this story is you just never know who you will meet; who you can help move from the shadows to becoming triumphant!

Oh and by the way, he won that competition.

Never give up, lose hope, or throw in the towel – the right pair of lucky pants may be waiting for you!