My mother has been doing a lot of traveling lately. She was here two weeks ago, for her first solo trip to Massachusetts, and the week before THAT -- while my kids were on spring break and I was glued to the television watching coverage of the Marathon bombings -- she went to Las Vegas for my niece K's wedding.
Her plan was to fly out the day before the wedding and fly back the morning after. Unfortunately, the day she was scheduled to leave the Chicago area was hit by torrential rain storms, and when she got to O'Hare she discovered that her flight had been cancelled. She explained her situation to the ticket agent, who asked her to sit tight for a few minutes and let her see what she could do.
Mom uses a wheelchair to get around airports these days, and was already seated, so the attendant pushed her chair over to the side and left her there while the agent tried to find her a new flight.
She was very upset and anxious, of course ("there may have been some tears," she confessed to me later), and after a few minutes a woman with a very kind face approached and asked if there was anything she could do to help. Mom explained the situation.
"Well, we're sitting in that same boat!" the woman said. "Tell you what. My husband and I will stay here with you until the airline gets things straightened out."
As Mom dried her eyes and began telling her new friends about her granddaughter, the wonderful man she was marrying, and how much Dad would have loved to have been at the wedding, another couple approached and offered their assistance.
"Thank you," Mom said, "we're just waiting to see what the ticket agent can do for me."
"Well, there's no reason to wait for her," the man said, pulling out his phone. "Let's see what we can do ourselves."
He pulled up a travel site and began looking at flights. "Here's one that leaves in an hour," he said. "The only seat available is in first class ..."
"Oh, I can't do that," Mom said.
"That's o.k.," he said. "I'm taking care of it."
Mom protested, but he shushed her kindly, saying, "I can afford it. Don't worry."
In the end, that seat was sold before he could check out, but he kept working his phone. Flights that day were being cancelled right and left, but he was eventually able to find and book her a ticket for the next day, which would get her into Las Vegas an hour or so before the wedding. Mom's new friends helped her retrieve her suitcase and saw her safely to a cab before heading back into the airport to work on their own flight problems.
The weather the next day was even worse. Mom left her apartment in plenty of time, but wasn't able to get far, as the expressway was closed. Just as Mom decided that she wasn't going to be able to make her flight, she received a text from American Airlines notifying her that this flight had also been cancelled. She decided to go to the airport anyway, so her cab driver bent the space time continuum and got her to the airport. Once there, Mom went to the ticket counter and was able to re-book on a later flight. She then proceeded to wait, as her plane's departure was delayed, delayed, and delayed again.
During all this, she was far from idle. The first woman who had helped her the day before called to make sure she'd made it to the airport in one piece, and to send her best wishes. Mom assured her she was fine, and proceeded to while away the next several hours making and fielding texts and phone calls from me, my brother, and the family waiting for her in Las Vegas. After the second delay she called to tell me that K had just phoned to express her concern about the amount of stress Mom was under, and to encourage her to stay in Chicago. ("She doesn't know you very well, does she?" I asked. Within 20 minutes, Mom called back to say that my niece's mother had been in touch because "K doesn't think you're listening to her." "Oh!" I said. "She DOES know you!") After the third delay, she ducked into a bathroom and changed into her Grandmother-of-the-Bride outfit, so she could go straight from the airport to the wedding.
When she hadn't left O'Hare by 4 p.m. EST, I suggested that perhaps it was time to call it a day. "No one can say you didn't give it your all," I said gently. "But at this point you're going to miss the wedding and the dinner. Is it really worth flying all that way to be at the reception for an hour or two, spend the night in a hotel, and fly back?"
"But I'm dressed already!" protested Mom, her heels thoroughly dug in. "
I'm carrying my mother's brocade purse!!"
"Have someone take your picture at the gate," I said, "and send it to K. Then go home to your apartment, have a glass of wine, and know that you did your best. They know that you are there in spirit."
"Maybe you're right," Mom conceded. "I'll just wait a little bit longer, then head home." A few minutes later, she texted me the following:
Half an hour after that, I tried calling her and got no answer. No real surprise ... she'd mentioned earlier that her phone's battery was running low. I was going to a play that night, so had to content myself with sending a few text messages, all of which received no reply. I tried calling her at intermission ... still no answer. My niece's mother was posting real-time updates on her Facebook page, so I was able to see several pictures of K in her gown and smiling with her new husband. She looked beautiful, and so very happy. "Mom would have loved to have been there," I thought wistfully.
When the show ended, I checked my phone. Still no word from Mom. I went over to Facebook to see if K's mom had posted any new pictures, and was rewarded when one immediately popped up at the top of my feed.
Score one for tenacity.
****
Mom's flight home was uneventful (aside from a short, sequester-related delay). While sorting through the receipts from her trip, she was shocked to discover that the gentleman who got her on that flight to Las Vegas hadn't re-booked her original ticket, he'd bought her an entire new ticket.
At full price.
They'd exchanged email addresses, so she immediately wrote to thank them again, and say that she would repay them as soon as she could. The wife wrote back, and I am paraphrasing here, but she said that they felt blessed to be in a position to help, and as grandparents themselves, they know how upset they would be to miss such an important event in one of their grandchildren's lives. She told Mom not to give repaying them a second thought.
So Mom promptly spammed them with pictures of the bride.
******
This all took place during the week after the Marathon bombings. Like so many people, I was tremendously impressed by the actions of the first responders, and by all the bystanders who leapt to the aid of the people injured in the blasts. So many people, rising to the occasion in unison, and showing the world the light that shines in the darkness.
But just as inspiring were the actions of those kind strangers at O'Hare airport, who saw a woman in distress, weeping for fear of missing her granddaughter's wedding, and quietly, without expectation of reward, stepped in and made things right.
Bless them all.
