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Here Say is a project in community storytelling. We travel to a new place each week and ask people to share true stories about things we all experience: love, family, learning, etc.Click here for a full-screen or mobile-ready map.00000178-cc7d-da8b-a77d-ec7d2fad0000

Here Say: Your Stories about Waiting, Told at the Columbia Regional Airport

Riley Beggin
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KBIA

Here Say is a project in community storytelling. We travel to a new place each week and ask people to share true stories about things we all experience: love, family, learning and more. To see where we've been, check out our interactive map. And to hear your favorite stories from last season, you can find our free podcast on iTunes.

 

 

Last month, we went to the lobby of the Columbia Regional Airport to hear stories about waiting. People told us so many great stories, we couldn’t fit them all in one episode. So, we decided to create a sequel, chock full of excellent tales from local travelers.

 

  We met Tony McGeorge, whose delayed commute turned into a job opportunity.

"I was a young man right out of college and I was working on Wall Street and I hated it. I was taking a commuter train from New York City to Hastings on the Hudson, it was about 20 miles. The train broke down and I was in the bar car and I was there for four hours with this gentleman. We were doing a lot of drinking, and he worked for an advertising agency. I started telling him about how I didn’t like my job and by the end of four hours he asked me to come in and interview and I got my first job out of college."

 

Credit Riley Beggin / KBIA
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KBIA
Ben Ritchie

  Ben Ritchie visited Columbia to see his long-distance fiancée, who he can’t wait to marry.

"So I moved to New Braunfels, Texas my junior year in high school, and it ended up being one of the best things that ever happened. I know God had his hand in it for sure. I met my future wife Kelly Hine one Wednesday at youth group. It took her about a year to actually warm up to me and want to talk to me, because she thought I was a pretty weird dude for a while. But she ended up going on a date with me and we started dating our senior year in high school. Long story short, she transferred to Mizzou her sophomore year to play tennis, and she got a full ride. So we got engaged this past summer on August 21, and we’ve been waiting ever since then. July 9 is when we’re getting married. So we’re just waiting on the Lord and waiting on his perfect timing." 

Credit Riley Beggin / KBIA
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KBIA
Carolyn Cunningham

  Carolyn Cunningham told us about one of the most frustrating waiting periods she has ever experienced, when she was waiting for her baby to be born.

 

"My due date was December 30, and in December not ready, not ready not ready. I cried every week I went. I was ready to get it all over with. My sister-in-law was also pregnant and she was due January 14, but she had her little girl December 30, my due date. Finally on January 14 I was sick, it took me a while to suddenly realize I don’t think this is just the flu, I think I’m also going to be having a baby today. And I did. That was probably the longest month and most tiring wait I’ve ever had."

Anna Shirley told us about how she recently had the perfect cup of coffee within her grasp, but it took her a little longer to enjoy than she thought.

"I went home for Christmas in St. Charles. We opened up Christmas presents and I had gotten a Keurig and I was really excited about it. And then we went home and I forgot the Keurig. So I thought I was going to have to wait two or three months to get it, but after about a week and a half my mom decided to just mail it to me."

 

Credit Riley Beggin / KBIA
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KBIA
David Sloan

  David Sloan told us about how the U.S. Navy taught him to be patient—whether or not he wanted to.

"If they wanted you to get a shot or something, if it was way across another area, you’d have to run in formation until you got over there and then you had to stand for an hour to wait to get the shot. That was the Navy boot camp. They did anything they could to break you down and make you understand you had to comply with orders, and comply with rules and regulations. And it’s a real shock to learn as a young teenager and everything right out of high school."

Riley comes to KBIA from Minneapolis after a four-year stint in Madison, WI, where she ate cheese curds and read about history. She is now a second-year graduate student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism she studies investigative and radio reporting.