Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Do you believe in angels?

Sometimes I feel like I am truly being watched out for, that God has put certain people in certain places at the time when you need it the most. I haven't had a real feeling like this in quite a while but I'd like to share a story about a woman I met at the Nashville Airport.

I had JUST dropped my husband off at his company to leave for Afghanistan for a year, had to rush back to our townhouse for move out inspection, and then speed to Nashville to catch my flight home. All with a recovering from a stomach bug 10 month old. The day had obviously not started off well with a lot of tears and "see you laters" but to top it off when I dropped off our rental car at the Hertz drop off at the airport, I left one bag, the one that contained pretty much every piece of Shane's 12-18 month closet, in the car. Unbeknownst to me, I went to the check in counter and then realized this bag was missing. I knew I didn't feel like my hands were full enough! So I trekked back down to the Hertz center and waited forever for them to see if they could find it. I was starting to get worried after 10 minutes because I knew it had to be in the car. Finally they came out with the backpack and I rearranged all my bags to head back up to go through security.

At security, I was held up because I forgot to change in a HUGE bag of change for cash at Walmart that day. So my bags were searched because they couldn't tell from the scanner what it was. I then had to rearrange everything in Shane's diaper bag plus manage to get my shoes back on and deal with a fussy baby who didn't want to be stuck in his stroller.

I made my way to the gate where I found out the plane was already going to be late. Awesome. I chatted with the flight crew who of course fell in love with Shane. I had just bought my ACU diaper bag and they soon asked about it. I explained that his daddy had just left today and they apologized and offered me to pre-board when the flight came since they could tell I had my hands full.

Then I met Kris. Kris is a fellow Army wife. Her husband is out of the Illinois National Guard and she was returning back to Chicago after a business trip in Nashville. We got to talking and since my flight from Chicago to Boston was going to be tight and we kept getting delayed, she offered to put me up for the night just in case I got stuck in Chicago. Now, I don't know about you but I have met very few people who would invite essentially a complete stranger to come to their home with them and then drive them to the airport the next day. We finally left Nashville and were on our way to Chicago Midway. We got to Chicago a lot faster than I hoped we would and my anxiety about not getting home that night lessend greatly. Then we were told we were going to have to circle because of there not being anywhere for us to land. We circled for an HOUR. I watched the minutes pass and the time my plane was supposed to take off passed. Every few minutes I could connect to the southwest site on my phone and saw that my plane had been delayed about a half hour. I knew we'd be cutting it close. I jumped off the plane as fast as I could with my hands full of bags and a baby. Kris was right behind me. She ran, yes I literally RAN, all the way to my next gate which of course was in a completely different terminal. She made sure I got on that plane and was on my way home safely and made me promise to let her know as soon as I was home safe.

I think I would have fallen apart that day if it hadn't been for Kris and her compassion and kindness. She has literally been a Godsend. We are still in touch and I always enjoy chatting with her and her encouraging words. She is an AMAZING woman with more accomplishments on her list that I could ever imagine. Meeting her was a reminder that there are good people out there and that even on your hardest days, God is looking out for us all. I consider Kris to be my guardian angel that day and I am so lucky to have met her.


7 comments:

  1. What an amazing story! It's tales like this that make us realize on any given day we are the face of Jesus for someone else!

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  2. I love finding other Bostonians in blog land:) I'm glad you made your connecting flight and made a friend on the way!

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  3. Aww <3 Great story. It's so good to have people like her in your life. Thanks for linking up, xx!

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  4. How incredible! What an awesome friend to have met! That is a great story that really shows the bond between Army wives.

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  5. Awww what an awesome story and awesome lady! I'm so glad God had sent you a friend that day when you really needed it! By the way, I'm a new follower! <3

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  6. What an incredible story! I too have had guardian angels at the airport, kind strangers who carried my daughter's carseat as we ran to another terminal and entertained one screaming child on the plane while I dealt with the other screaming child. Stories like yours remind me of the kindness of strangers. And whenever possible, I try to be someone else's kind stranger. I think it's fantastic that you keep in touch with her!

    Great to see you on the mil spouse roundup. Have a great weekend!

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  7. What an awesome story!! It's nice to know that there are still kind people out in the world...especially when they're part of our little circle. =)

    {Stopping by from the milspouse roundup!}

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