Summer Love

I walked quickly through the Detroit airport; my gate was at the very end of the terminal. I still needed to call the office and check my voicemail before my flight. I looked down at my watch and ran the departure time back in my head. “I should be ok,” I thought to myself. I stopped at a payphone near the gate, called my office, and whispered, “Ok, no messages.” I walked over to the gate agent to check on my upgrade. She handed me my first-class upgrade, and I took a seat.

As I sat and watched people making their way to their flights, I noticed one young lady dressed in a floral dress talking with two other women. I got up and walked over nearer to her. I noticed her name was embroidered on a carry-on bag. I walked back to the gate agent and waited in line. I approached the agent and said, “Excuse me, I was wondering if I could sit next to my friend who is on this flight.” She looked up from the terminals and said, “Sure, what’s his name?” “Oh, I’m sorry, it is actually a lady friend, her name is Barbara Kinney,” I told her. She looked down and began typing, then looked back at me and said, “I’m sorry, there is no one with that name on this flight.” I turned around and quickly checked to see if she was still in the gate area. There she stood, looking just as beautiful as she was the first time I saw her. “No, I am almost positive that she is on this flight,” I told her. “You can check with me again before you board, and I can check again,” she shared with me.

I sat back down in the gate area and waited to board the plane. “We are now boarding first class,” I heard the gate agent announce. I stopped by and asked the agent one last time if Barbara Kinney had checked in. Her response remained the same. I sat down in my seat in the last row of first class.

The flight took off on time, and for the first thirty minutes of the flight, I wrote down a list of things I needed to complete by the end of the week. The flight attendant stopped by and asked me if I wanted anything to drink. We started talking about the upcoming weekend before she returned to the front of the plane, I looked down the stairs and there stood the young lady in the galley talking to the other flight attendants. I sat there staring down the stairs, trying to hear her voice, but I could see her smile on her face.

The flight landed, and the other passengers waited as the first-class passengers exited the plane. I stood in the gate area and waited for the young lady to exit the plane. The final passengers left the plane, and I never saw her. I walked over to a payphone and called the office and checked in. As I stood there, the young lady walked by. I hung up the phone and walked after her. I finally caught up to her and stopped her before the terminal exit.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to her. I had not rehearsed this conversation before, but I knew that I needed to say something to her. “Do I know you?” I said to her. She just looked at me, and I wasn’t sure if she felt sorry for me for I am sure this was the weakest pick-up line she had ever heard.

“No, I’m sorry, I don’t know you,” she replied. There it was I had nothing left. I stumbled through the rest of my embarrassing line and found out that she was a flight attendant for Northwest Airlines. “That must be it. I travel all the time; I probably saw you on a flight,” I remarked.

There was a moment of silence. I stood there not sure what to say or do next. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a business card. “If you ever would like to grab lunch, call me,” I said to her. I scratched my home phone number on the card and handed it to her. She said thanks and shared her name with me. I already knew that she was Barbara, but I wasn’t going to share with her that I did everything I could to sit next to her on the flight from Detroit. We said goodbye, and I told myself that I would never attempt to meet someone in an airport again.

May became June, and I never thought I would hear from her. But there it was, the missed call on my answering machine. I listened to the message; it was Barb. She said that if I would still like to have lunch, I should call her. I listened to the message again, making sure I wrote down her phone number correctly. Then I sat down, surprised, nervous, excited, and started to think about where we could go for lunch.

I waited a day before I called her back; it took me that long to get my courage together. Her mom answered the phone, and I shared with her the story of how I had met her daughter. Her mom began to tell me Barb’s life story. We talked for almost an hour. I asked her if she could ask Barb if she could have lunch on Saturday. Her mom paused and then shared with me Barb’s schedule. We agreed that the following Thursday evening would be the best time for us to meet. I thanked her for her help and asked her again to have Barb call to confirm that Thursday would work for dinner.

The call came from Barb, and she left another message confirming that Thursday evening would work great. She left her address and the time that would work best for her. It was Monday when she called, and now I had three days to run the script in my head for our Thursday evening dinner. I was sure that this would be one date, and she would thank me for dinner, and I would never see her again.

I came over ten minutes early on Thursday evening. Her mom and dad were both there to greet me. I felt a firm handshake from her father, one that told me that he protected his daughter and her feelings and not to do anything to hurt her. Barb came around the corner, smiling and looking beautiful. We had a wonderful evening. When I drove her home, I asked her about her schedule for the upcoming week. She shared with me that she was flying almost every day. I wasn’t sure if this was a way to say to me that she was not interested in another date. She did share that Tuesday would be a long day since she had a six-hour layover in Minneapolis. I walked her to her door and thanked her for a great time. She smiled and said she had a nice evening. And that was it; I walked back to the car and left.

Over the weekend, I thought about what I could do to surprise Barb on Tuesday. She had shared with me that she was coming in from Detroit and would be in Minneapolis airport for six hours. I went out on Sunday and found a casual dress that would look great on her. I also bought a picnic basket and a blanket. Then on Tuesday, I stopped at the deli by my house and bought sandwiches for the two of us. Just before I left for the airport, I made homemade chocolate chip cookies. I then wrapped them in paper towels to keep them warm. I went out to the airport and looked at the arrival information for the flight coming in from Detroit. I walked to the gate with the picnic basket in one hand and the bag with the dress I bought her in the other. I sat and waited as the passengers left the plane.

Finally, the first flight attendant came off, and then there was Barb. I stood up quickly, and she looked shocked to see me. I walked over to her and asked, “How would you like to go on a picnic?” She smiled and said, “I really don’t have any clothes for a picnic with me.” I smiled at her and said, “That’s ok, I have a dress for you.” She looked at the other flight attendants and then turned back at me and said, “Sure, let’s go.”

She took the bag that had the dress in it and went into the bathroom and changed her clothes. She walked out and walked over to me. “You look amazing,” I told her. She smiled and said, “We only have five hours, I have to be back an hour before departure.”

We walked together to my car. I opened her door and quickly walked around to the driver’s side and got into the car. We drove to a nearby lake, and I parked the car. I grabbed the picnic basket from the backseat, and together we walked down to a clearing where we could see the lake. I spread out the blanket, and we sat down. “I wasn’t sure what kind of sandwich you would like, so you get to pick first,” I told her. We spent the next four hours talking and laughing. Time cheated us that afternoon, as it moved too fast.

I drove her back to the airport and walked her back to the gate. She went back into the bathroom and changed back into her uniform. “Well, I have to go now,” she told me. I smiled and said, “I had a wonderful time,” and thanked her for spending her layover with me. She then turned and walked towards the gate. I stood there watching. She turned and smiled, and then she stopped and turned back and walked over to me and gave me a hug and said, “You just made me so happy, thank you.” She turned and quickly walked back to the jetway. Just before she went down the jetway she turned again and waved goodbye.

Thirty years later, I sit next to this young lady. She still looks the same, and if I could find the dress from that Tuesday afternoon, she could still wear it and look as wonderful as she did then. I sometimes wake in the morning, and I find myself not in the right headspace. I feel overwhelmed, not sure who I am. But I reach over and embrace Barb. I remember the very moment she turned and walked back to me and hugged me. It is her smile, the joy she brings into my life every day, that reminds me to sing praises to the Lord for blessing my life with the girl of my dreams.

If you are like me and traveling is part of your work life, try to always remember that each day our lives are filled with so many special surprises. Some of the best lessons I have learned in my life have been from those I have met during my travels. Look forward to the opportunity to meet the person next to you. Their life story may in fact change yours.

I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Psalms 104:33 NIV