The kindness of strangers
I'm a flight attendant for American Airlines and on January 13,1998 I
was on a layover in Seattle when I learned that my father had
suffered his second heart attack in a year. I quickly was removed
from my trip and since my parents were in Portland I thought I would
rent a car and just drive down. Unfortunately, there had been a
severe ice storm in Portland closing the airport and many passengers
had flown into Seattle with the same idea of driving down to
Portland. Therefore by the time I got to a car rental counter they
had just gotten rid of the last car.
The middle aged man next to me heard the tearful conversation I had
with the car rental agent, told me he was going to Portland and
offered me a lift. At this point it didn't matter that he could have
been a serial killer, I was getting in that car with him.
Fortunately he turned out to be a friendly Mormon with 6 kids. I told
him I would pay for half of the car rental and gas but when we got to
Portland 3 hours later he would take nothing. He gave me the greatest
gift though because when I walked into ICU my parents were shocked
and asked me how I got there. I told them the truth as I saw it-I
flew in on the wings of an angel. My dad passed away last September
but I'll always be grateful for the man whose name I didn't even know
who helped me bring a huge smile to my parent's faces during a
difficult time.
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