Tonight I was reminded of my trip to Cabo Verde in April/May. My favorite part of that trip actually occurred in Casablanca.

I had a 12 hour layover so rode the light rail into the city. On the way back to the airport two women and a two year old sat next to me. In my (very) broken French we had a nice conversation about our kids.

She was trying to keep the two year old awake so she would take a proper nap when they got home instead of a 20 minute nap on the train. It was funny because not too long ago I was on the MAX in Portland with my daughter trying to keep her awake to take a proper nap when I got home.

Not that I’ve really had a problem with seeing humanity in others but it was just a really special and humanizing experience for me. Here I am on a train on a continent I’ve never been to before where they speak a language I barely fathom and here’s a family having exactly the same experience I had with my family.