On my way to Washington DC last week I met a man. At first glance I thought ‘is Leo sitting next to me on the plane’? From the side, with the hat pull down, he vaguely resembled the star, with the only exception being that we were in coach.
He didn’t speak to me much as plane rides tend to be in an uncomfortable approximately to each other and combined with my clear preoccupation with keeping Charlotte from annoying any other plane passengers, we kept our conversations to merely smiles and nods.
I could tell he was kind. Charlotte, while being amazing on the plane, had a few dramatic moments yelling out “We are going down” during some turbulence and bouncing off the walls from that bad decision to let her drink a frappuccino at the stop over in Atlanta.
Once we landed in DC, he, like all passengers, opened his cell and while I wasn’t eavesdropping, I heard the whole thing. He called someone at the hospital and spoke to a nurse. He asked the question about how someone was doing, were they stable, and explained he would be there shortly.
He closed the phone and stared at the window.
I asked him if everything was alright. He said yes at first. Then he paused and said ‘my wife is in the hospital on life support here. She had a reaction to medication and is on a breathing machine.’
I didn’t know what to say. I got chills. I was on my way to a great weekend, he was on his wife to his wives side. I did as most people did and made some mumbling of how sorry I was. The thing was…I really did feel some sort of anguish for this stranger. He pulled out his phone and shared a picture of her with me.
She was beautiful; definitely model material. Gorgeous read hair. A body I had a decade ago. The difference was she was 39 in the photo. He looked at Charlotte and smiled again. I asked if he had children. He said no, and kinda looked away. I think I hit a sad note. I offered up he could have mine but he would return her shortly. He laughed and said he had nephews and him and his wife loved to take them.
Then he told me she had cancer. She took an experimental treatment and it basically destroyed her. She was in a hospital in DC. I asked him as delicately as I could if she was dying or whether it was the treatment that killed her. He said she was fine till the treatment.
I teared up.
I said: “What’s your name.”
He said: “David.”
This entire conversation happened standing in the aisles of the plane waiting to deboard.
We got off the plane and he was gone in moments; Charlotte and I stumbling to open the stroller and manage our carry ons. We walked through the airport and swooped around, grabbed our bags, and headed up an escalator. 15 minutes had passed. After all the time, on the way up, coincidentally David was going down on the opposite side. If you believe in coincidences.
I yelled to him.
“David, do you have a website?”
I had to know the end to the story. I had to know if she was OK.
He yelled back “No”.
I said: “Im an internet guru, I am going to track you down to find out how she is doing.”
Soon he was one way and I was the other, our escalators moving the whole time, our conversations between people. Minutes passed and Charlotte and I trudged along. I heard running behind me and I turned.
David was running behind me.
He said: “You seem sincerely interested. Here is my business card.”
I told him I would email him and would find out the good news that his wife was in recovery.
I am getting ready to email him now. As I look down at his card I notice he is a landscape and cemetery supervisor. The irony of dealing with death every day strikes me.
This stranger on the plane.
~trisha
We are very luck to have people like David touch our lives, I think god sends them to us for a reason, I hope you found your reason. Thank you for sharing with us. And oh my gosh his card title made me cry.
Praying for him and his wife.
oh my, how awesome of you though Trisha! He needs all the support he can get, I will be thinking of them, and look forward to hearing an update.
Oh, that’s so sad. It’s amazing how focused we can get on our own lives and sometimes forget to ask about other people’s. I’m glad you asked.
I truly believe that every chance encounter like this happens for a reason. Not only did this happen for you, but for him. At a moment when he probably felt very alone, he now knows that someone cared enough to ask… NOW, he will have an entire site of people praying for his comfort and his wifes healing. Thank you so much for sharing this difficult story and for asking the questions of him that not many would have the nerve to ask… You have a gift.
I honestly don’t know what to say..I’m sitting here with tears in my eyes for a person I don’t even know, have never met, and probably never will. Please do let us know if you hear back from him.
Adding my prayers for David and his wife. I hope to hear of her recovery as well.
wow. Do keep us posted Trisha. Praying for David and his wife.
What a sad and beautiful experience you had! you will never know what a person is going through until you reach to him. I’m sure you gave him some hope. Thanks for sharing this Trisha, it makes me feel great inside to think that the world is full of wonderful people, like you.
It’s amazing the people you can meet. Everyone has a story. That’s what draws me to blogs.
You never know who you’re going to meet or how you could possibly change their lives. I am sure you at least changed his day for the better knowing a stranger truly cared about his situation. I don’t think anything happens by chance…keep us posted!
that is so sad, that was very sweet of you toreach out to him! i hope his wife will recover, please keep us posted!
oh that brought tears to my eyes. That was nice of you , Im sure it helped him in some kind of way. I cant wait to here an update , I will keep David and his wife in my thoughts
I seriously have chills! What a story. Please keep us posted.
How sad. It just goes to show that you see so many strangers everyday and each one of them could have a chilling story just like this one.
I got chills. How good of you to reach out to him. I hope you have some good news for us.
I hope she is on her way to recovery… I’ll be anxious to hear. I second Melissa giving you Kudos – David felt your heartfelt sincerity and you were probably the only bright light in his day on this particular day. Way to go Trisha!
Kudos (I love that word) to you for reaching out to someone who was hurting. That is truly lacking in society today and you probably made more of an impact on him, in a difficult time, than you even realize.
That gave me chills. I’ll be thinking of David and his Wife.
thats horrible, it was nice of you to be so concerned and caring. probably made him feel good