May 21, 2008

• Celebrate!!!

  It's my Born Day!!!

  I woke up this morning at 3:00 a.m. to take MSP to the airport all the way out in Dulles....a 30 minute drive that early in the morning....for his 6:00 a.m. flight to the Dominican Republic for his Memorial Day Guy's Trip.....did I mention it's my birthday?

  DDG planned to re-kindle the Memorial Day outing this year for old time's sake, but I don't think we're quite ready and schedules are still hectic.  We'll be together again on Memorial Day weekend when we're ready.

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  I went to Little Rock, AR last month for the conference.  Remember the conference that wasn't half way planned a week before?  So, I was supposed to leave in the middle of the conference, on a Wednesday, to attend a different conference in Baltimore on Thursday.  After seeing that my help would be needed for the big dinner on Wednesday night, I offered to change my flight that Tuesday.  So I changed the flight from Wednesday to Thursday morning (it had a layover in Chicago) and went to the airport as scheduled.  There was a mini-crisis/fiasco with the charter bus service that morning and things were still very hectic when I left the hotel (Sign One).  I went to the airport and when they called the flight to board, a gentleman stood up and made a public announcement.  His father was a police officer in Chicago and had been shot the night before.  He was in surgery as they spoke and he was able to make the flight but his sister couldn't because all seats were sold.  The family asked the airline to ask people to change flights, similar to when the airline overbooks a flight.  The airline said they could not because it was a personal request, but the family could ask passengers to give up their seat (Sign Two).  I said a prayer immediately and told myself I would give up my seat if they needed it, even though I knew it would mean getting on ANOTHER flight with my boss who works ALL THE TIME.  As the airline employee called the flight to board, I went over the gentleman and asked if they were able to get a seat for his sister, and he told me no.  An older gentleman offered to change flights but wanted to see if the
  airline could get him to Chicago in time for his commitment.  The
  airline wouldn't pay for a different ticket (Sign Three).  I told him that I would give his sister my seat.  The sister and I went to the ticket counter and made the switch.  The brother offered to pay me, several times, to which I told him it was unnecessary.  He asked over and over if he could pay for a hotel room for me, and again, I told him it was unnecessary.  He asked me if there was anything he could do for me, to which I replied "Just be sure to get to your Father."  I gave them my contact information and said Goodbye.  I called my boss and told her I changed my flight and was on my way back to the conference. 

  While I was typing the above bit about Memorial Day Weekend, I got an alert from Digsby (the best IM/E-mail/Social network manager application) about a Friend Request and a new message.  I went to the friend request first, and if you know my philosophy on FaceBook and MySpace, you know I don't accept friend invites/requests from strangers.  I didn't recognize the name or the picture, and the profile was private.  I almost hit "Deny," but went to check the messages first.  It was the sister from the Little Rock airport.  She said her father passed that following Monday and that she wanted to thank me, again, for giving up my seat on the plane.

  Another instance of God working on me, helping me realize the good and not the sorrow (cuz I was surely about to cry when writing about Memorial Day Weekend).

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  Did I mention it's my Born Day?

  • 4:50 pm
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