Flying through Amsterdam

When I was looking for a ticket, I ended up getting a flight with KLM.  It went through Amsterdam, then the St. Exupery airport in Lyons France, then to Biarritz, which is the closest airport to the starting point for many, at St. Jean Pied a Port, in the southwest corner of France.  I was flying with the biggest full moon of the year, on the Cinco de Mayo (5th of May);  which is an auspicious day to turn toward Spain from one of the former colonial places.  In Amsterdam, I went through customs, and then heard an overhead speaker announcing there would be a Catholic mass in the airport chapel starting in about 15 minutes.  I went back with my backpack through the international gate, and up to the airport lounge;  where, in a lovely translucent space, a chapel exists.  The priest had spent some time in Africa, and was very serious and kind, in his celebration of the mass.  It was an acutely tuned event to the fact that we were all wayfarers, if not pilgrims;  and that it was spiritually nourishing and grounding for us as Catholics, to be found here in this tiny community of believers.  There were about 10 of us, and after mass, the Dutch hostess and greeter invited us for cookies and coffee.  We had a marvelous talk.  One of the attendees was a young man who works as an engineer in Italy, and he had participated in the youth group with Pope John Paul II in Europe and Colorado.  I talked a bit about my experience in the Peace Corps, in Paraguay.  They were all delighted to hear I was on my way to walk the Camino, and sent their prayers and blessings with me.  The Gospel was the one about "I am the vine, you are the branches.  If you remain in me,  you will bear good fruit."   I was absolutely thunderstruck that there was a mass in the airport in Amsterdam, and that I got to be there, at just the right time to enjoy it!  
I also was surprised to be going through Lyons, and that the airport was named for the author of "The little Prince".  I was thinking it had been a long time since I read it, and I still remember in French, the line "tu deviens reponsable de ta rose"--- you are responsible for your rose--- which is why you love her, even though she is difficult.  I also remember reading "Night flight"-- several decades ago.  The place was muggy and reminded me of Omaha, but there was a lovely brick chapel steeple on the horizon beyond the airport, and interesting light in the clouds.  I wondered if St. Exupery would be glad his name is on that airport. 
Before leaving San Francisco, I was speaking with a young woman who was typing on a computer laptop-- and she asked me tentatively  if she could ask a medical question.  Her question had to do with how much longer she should work before getting pregnant.  I gently told her that I think it is the wrong question.  I cautioned her that she needn't believe me, because I am a very old-fashioned person about this issue.   I really think we need to be able to be people who are "both/and" rather than "either/or",  and that we need to be able to express our love, and build families, when it is right to do so;  not just force these life-issues into our work schedule.  If we are ready for children, it IS the right time, and the work will have to be adjusted accordingly.   We all want to be well-balanced, and good at everything.  In my opinion, the rate-limiting-step is finding the right partner, who will make a wonderful father for our children.  After that, it IS the right time to build a family.   Some payoffs happen, when we have children young.  When we have to wait, it is hard, especially if having a family is really the greatest hope and likeliest of all our desires to help us be happy.  Most women deeply want to be mothers and wives.  This needs to be honored, rather than shunted aside as a less-than-worthy goal, even if one is a great businesswoman.  The whole rest of the trip, I worried that I had not given her good advice, the kind of advice that is considered prudent in our time for  professional women.  I was so glad, listening to the Gospel of the vine and the branches, that maybe I did say the right thing.   In the lives of some of my patients, I am the only one arguing on behalf of their fertility, their potential maternity.  I put that, too, into God's hands.