Taylor Tippett - Words from the Window Seat: The Everyday Magic of Kindness, Courage, and Being Your True Self

Beautiful, insightful, and filled with love and whimsy. Taylor has nailed it in this book. She understands the power of the right words being given to the right person at the right time and invites us to be the people who give them away by the boatload.

BOB GOFF, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LOVE DOES; EVERYBODY, ALWAYS; AND DREAM BIG

Words from the Window Seat is an on-time companion for the traveler at heart. Taylor Tippett shares beautifully honest experiences and insights gathered from her lifeincluding life as a flight attendant. These pages will empower you to explore the many opportunities we have each day to encounter light and share love with others while traveling. Whether traveling by air or traveling through life. This book is an encouragement to be present in the everyday, no matter what comes your way.

MORGAN HARPER NICHOLS, AUTHOR OF ALL ALONG YOU WERE BLOOMING

Reading Words from the Window Seat feels like snuggling up next to the most empathic friend, who reminds you of all thats so beautiful and right with you and the world. These words feel like a deep exhale, a remembering.

RUTHIE LINDSEY, SPEAKER AND AUTHOR OF THERE I AM: THE JOURNEY FROM HOPELESSNESS TO HEALING

Taylor is a radiant light, and her stories leave a wake of love on this earth.

JEDIDIAH JENKINS, AUTHOR OF TO SHAKE THE SLEEPING SELF AND LIKE STREAMS TO THE OCEAN

Words from the Window Seat is basically a long conversation over coffee with Taylor. Its authentic, lighthearted and honest, fun and funny, serious when it needs to be, and just all-around feels like a big hug from a good friend. If youve ever felt lost, wondered if youre getting it right, struggled with anxiety or depression, been burdened with grief or fear, or questioned how your life was going to turn outyou arent going to want to miss this down-to-earth, encouraging pageturner from Taylor.

ALLISON FALLON, AUTHOR OF THE POWER OF WRITING IT DOWN

Words from the Window Seat

2021 by Taylor Tippett

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Nelson Books and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Published in association with literary agent Tawny Johnson of Illuminate Literary Agency, www.illluminateliterary.com.

Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Any internet addresses, phone numbers, or company or product information printed in this book are offered as a resource and are not intended in any way to be or to imply an endorsement by Thomas Nelson, nor does Thomas Nelson vouch for the existence, content, or services of these sites, phone numbers, companies, or products beyond the life of this book.

Some names and identifying factors have been changed to protect the privacy of those who have shared their stories.

Illustrations by Joseph Tilley and Taylor Tippett.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Tippett, Taylor, 1993- author.

Title: Words from the window seat : the everyday magic of kindness, courage, and being your true self / by Taylor Tippett.

Description: Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 2021. | Summary: Taylor Tippett, known as the flight attendant who leaves encouraging notes on passenger windows, shares how readers can find encouragement and meaning amid the brokenness of this world as they learn to recognize the magic of small moments, the power of everyday kindnesses, and the beauty found in every persons unique story-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021007782 (print) | LCCN 2021007783 (ebook) | ISBN 9781400225378 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781400225385 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Encouragement--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Classification: LCC BV4647.E53 T57 2021 (print) | LCC BV4647.E53 (ebook) | DDC 248.4--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021007782

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021007783

Epub Edition August 2021 9781400225385

Printed in the United States of America

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My story of becoming is spread out on these next pages you are about to turn and dive into. Before you do, I have to dedicate this whole thing. Talk about my worst nightmare. I want to dedicate it to my dog, my husband, Santa Claus, God, and to my favorite Trader Joes cashier. This book is for and because of so many beautiful humans. It has roots. How do I scoop this all up and give my love to every single last one of you?

I think about my six-year-old self. I am dedicating these next few pages to her. I hope she knows how loved she was, even when she couldnt feel it. I know she would be so proud of the woman I have turned out to be. Its for your six-year-old self too. Go back and talk to them sometime. They may need it more than you know.

This is for every last sunset, sunrise, sidewalk crack, wildflower, stranger, and black cup of coffee that made me fall deeper in love with God and become a lot more like Love.

To anyone who has called heartache, loss, sadness, heaviness, depression, anxiety, or pain a friend. These next pages are yours. May you never forget how loved, valuable, and important you are.

This is for you. For all of you. All my love.

a cotton-candy, bright-orange-and-pink, out-of-this-world sunset was staring at me outside my window. I was sitting in my special flight attendant jump seat on an airplane getting ready to touch down in Chicago. Sitting there in front of all my passengers, I couldnt help but cry. That kind of beauty just does stuff to my insides. Without even thinking about it, my hand went up over my heart so I could silently give thanks and soak it all up.

As I was sitting there with my hand over my heart, just taking it all in, the landing gear popped down, startling me like it always does. I got to thinking how the landing gear comes down at a specific altitude, usually when the airplane goes under two thousand feet. It doesnt pop down at an altitude of five thousand feet or an altitude of five hundred feet but exactly when we dip below two thousand feet in the air. The pilots never put down the airplanes landing gear too early, and they for sure never drop the landing gear too late. I dont think any of us would want to be on a plane that puts its landing gear down too late. But somewhere in the midst of all the button pressing and airplane landing, there is a sweet spot. A spot where it is safe to let the gears down, land, and come right on back home.

I believe that our stories work in the same wayat least mine has. In 2014, at one of the worst possible stages of my life, I ripped a piece of paper off of a dollar-store notebook, wrote down a life lesson shortened into a tiny sentence with a black Sharpie, and grabbed some tape from an airplane cart. I hung the piece of paper on a window inside the airplane, snapped a quick picture, and decided to tuck the paper into the seat-back pocket in hopes that someone who really needed to read those words would find it. I wanted to pay it forward, passing along a piece of something that had inspired me while traveling, meeting new humans, and growing into myself. It was a decision that would shape the way I view kindness and the magic of small moments. This is how my project, Words from the Window Seat, was born.