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Hi Everybody! I am an EP nurse and don't hardly post on this site, but do read it almost daily.
Had to pass this story along, it will give you the warm fuzzies and is what the Christmas Season is all about...
On my return trip (this past weekend) from Atlanta to Indy, my seatmate just happened to be a very young and adorable US Serviceman (ARMY). I was excited when he sat down beside me because he was the cutest thing and soooooo polite ( he about "mammed" me to death while getting situated with all of his gear!)Plus I was proud to be sitting next to him and glad that I was going to be able to tell him so!
After we were both comfortable we began to talk. I asked him if he had been stationed anywhere...Ended up he's been in IRAQ for the last 10 months and was in the city where Sadam was captured (can't spell it) for the past 2 months. He HAS NOT BEEN HOME TO CHICAGO FOR 1.5 YEARS!!! So needless to say he was beside himself with excitement to see his WIFE and FAMILY on this 15 day leave!
We talked and talked and he showed me a pix of his cute little wife, etc. Anyway I got to wondering if he had been able to get his wife a xmas gift to take home to her. He said no because he had flown from Kuwait to Atlanta (started on Saturday the 20th and it was a 20 hr flight with 3 hour layover in Germany) He said of course there was nowhere to shop over there! Well I happened to have had on a bunch of my handmade jewelry (watch, bracelet, necklace, earrings) that I had just made recently, either done in swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls, beautiful glass beads, and sterling silver... and I asked him if he thought she would like any of that stuff. He said YES! So I offered it to him so he could have a special gift for her. He was so excited. The watch had a tiny "Mary" medal on it (I'm catholic) and so are they so that was good. The earrings were xmassy and had a necklace to match--which he wanted to give to HER mother. He was so excited. I would've made him stuff right on the plane, but had packed my cutting tools so they wouldn't get taken away from me.
Anyway, I rang the bell for the flight attendant and told her his story and that he had jewelry that he needed to wrap as gifts for his wife. So she got on the loudspeaker and announced that we had a US serviceman aboard who had been in Iraq and had not seen his wife/family.... Did anyone have any wrapping paper, bows, or small boxes for some jewelry?
Oh my Gosh! It was so exciting!! The whole plane began bustling and rallying towards a common goal! Every woman stood up to check her overhead bag for goodies and people started filing back to our area! It was wonderful. The "good will and thank yous! were abounding from everywhere!!!" Pretty soon we had a circle of busy people passing wrapping paper, bows, candy, wine, trinkets, Colts hats, digital cameras to take pictures! and this guy was overwhelmed with everyone coming back to personally thank him for serving his country on our behalf! Then he was kept busy getting the picture out of his wife which I circulated and told their story (no kids yet, what she did for a living, how long they were married....) and he also was writing his email and regular mail address in iraq so that we could all write to him when he goes back!
I told him when he goes back to Iraq to please let his buddies know how much we all appreciated them being over there and risking their lives for us and had any or all of them been on our plane, we would have done the same for each one of them!
There was also an older lady in the back of the plane that sent her digital camera up so someone could take a picture of him, for her! Then these two 13 yo girls across the aisle were the official photographers and photographed the serviceman with everyone possible plus all the wrapping etc! They got all of his addresses and others emails so can email everyone digital photos of the event.
BTW, this was a surprise for the wife. The serviceman's parents came to the airport to pick him up and drive him back to Chicago (which we have all on photo's too, much to the dismay of the Indianapolis Airport Police!!!)
Is that the best story????? Just had to share it with you all.
Hope your Christmas or whatever Holiday you Celebrate is as Happy as mine!
Love,
Laurie
Had to pass this story along, it will give you the warm fuzzies and is what the Christmas Season is all about...
On my return trip (this past weekend) from Atlanta to Indy, my seatmate just happened to be a very young and adorable US Serviceman (ARMY). I was excited when he sat down beside me because he was the cutest thing and soooooo polite ( he about "mammed" me to death while getting situated with all of his gear!)Plus I was proud to be sitting next to him and glad that I was going to be able to tell him so!
After we were both comfortable we began to talk. I asked him if he had been stationed anywhere...Ended up he's been in IRAQ for the last 10 months and was in the city where Sadam was captured (can't spell it) for the past 2 months. He HAS NOT BEEN HOME TO CHICAGO FOR 1.5 YEARS!!! So needless to say he was beside himself with excitement to see his WIFE and FAMILY on this 15 day leave!
We talked and talked and he showed me a pix of his cute little wife, etc. Anyway I got to wondering if he had been able to get his wife a xmas gift to take home to her. He said no because he had flown from Kuwait to Atlanta (started on Saturday the 20th and it was a 20 hr flight with 3 hour layover in Germany) He said of course there was nowhere to shop over there! Well I happened to have had on a bunch of my handmade jewelry (watch, bracelet, necklace, earrings) that I had just made recently, either done in swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls, beautiful glass beads, and sterling silver... and I asked him if he thought she would like any of that stuff. He said YES! So I offered it to him so he could have a special gift for her. He was so excited. The watch had a tiny "Mary" medal on it (I'm catholic) and so are they so that was good. The earrings were xmassy and had a necklace to match--which he wanted to give to HER mother. He was so excited. I would've made him stuff right on the plane, but had packed my cutting tools so they wouldn't get taken away from me.
Anyway, I rang the bell for the flight attendant and told her his story and that he had jewelry that he needed to wrap as gifts for his wife. So she got on the loudspeaker and announced that we had a US serviceman aboard who had been in Iraq and had not seen his wife/family.... Did anyone have any wrapping paper, bows, or small boxes for some jewelry?
Oh my Gosh! It was so exciting!! The whole plane began bustling and rallying towards a common goal! Every woman stood up to check her overhead bag for goodies and people started filing back to our area! It was wonderful. The "good will and thank yous! were abounding from everywhere!!!" Pretty soon we had a circle of busy people passing wrapping paper, bows, candy, wine, trinkets, Colts hats, digital cameras to take pictures! and this guy was overwhelmed with everyone coming back to personally thank him for serving his country on our behalf! Then he was kept busy getting the picture out of his wife which I circulated and told their story (no kids yet, what she did for a living, how long they were married....) and he also was writing his email and regular mail address in iraq so that we could all write to him when he goes back!
I told him when he goes back to Iraq to please let his buddies know how much we all appreciated them being over there and risking their lives for us and had any or all of them been on our plane, we would have done the same for each one of them!
There was also an older lady in the back of the plane that sent her digital camera up so someone could take a picture of him, for her! Then these two 13 yo girls across the aisle were the official photographers and photographed the serviceman with everyone possible plus all the wrapping etc! They got all of his addresses and others emails so can email everyone digital photos of the event.
BTW, this was a surprise for the wife. The serviceman's parents came to the airport to pick him up and drive him back to Chicago (which we have all on photo's too, much to the dismay of the Indianapolis Airport Police!!!)
Is that the best story????? Just had to share it with you all.
Hope your Christmas or whatever Holiday you Celebrate is as Happy as mine!
Love,
Laurie
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