Meeting my soul mate

This is one of my most significant Life Experiences. I've taken this long to write it because it deserves being told in just the right way.

My divorce was final on the anniversay of JFK's assasination in 1988. For the "history challenged" out there that's November 22. Obviously, Thanksgiving is always just around the corner on that date. I had just moved to my tiny inner city apartment, the holidays were in full swing, and I was heartsick for my children. But I was determined not to fall into depression. The yolk of a horrible marriage had been lifted from my withers. I was free of her! The mood was surprisingly upbeat.

Resolutely determined not to spend Thanksgiving alone, I decided at the last minute to spend it with my brother and his family in Atlanta. The late decision made it difficult to find a flight. Normally IAH-ATL flights happen on an hourly basis, but the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is always the busiest travel day of the year. No space available anywhere. I finally found a really ugly itinerary. Houston-Chicago-three hour layover-Atlanta. I gritted my teeth and booked it.

On Wednesday, Nov 23rd, the flight to Chicago was uneventful, and even arrived about 10 minutes early. For weekend trips, I rarely check luggage, so as the door opened and we passengers spilled onto the jetway, I braced myself for the three hour layover. But what to my wondering eyes should appear, (that's Holiday talk) but a flight to Atlanta leaving in five minutes just across the corridor.

I approached the gate agent and asked if I could get on this plane as a standby passenger. I explanined that I had only carry on luggage, and that I did not want to spend the next three hours at O'Hare airport.

She shrugged, "Sir, this is a full flight. It's the busiest travel day of the year."

"Could you just check to see if there's been a cancellation?" I pleaded. She looked down and began pecking on a keyboard.

"Well look at that!" she said. "A seat just came available." She snatched the ticket from my hand and began attending to the details of switching my ticket. By the time I could board, the ground crew were closing the aircraft door. I stopped them and scrambled inside with my luggage.

I became that annoying "last guy on the plane", and got some impatient and unkind looks from my fellow passengers. Clambering down the aisle with not a shred of grace, I spotted my seat - the window seat right next to a beautiful fair-skinned brunette. She looked up from her book, glanced momentarily at me, sighed and got up to allow me to get to my seat. She even shifted her parcels in the overhead bin so my things would fit.

When I tried to engage her in conversation, she thrust her nose a little futher into her book. It wasn't until the meal came that I was able get a foot in the door. Despite the inauspicious start, my boyish charm must have eventually won the day. We talked about so many things. I learned she was divorced, and had been single for several years. I told her that I was also divorced.

She asked, "So how long have you been single?"

"Including today," I replied, "one day."

"This guy is big trouble." she thought, as she later admitted.

We exchanged business cards at the end of the flight. When I returned to Houston after Thanksgiving, I sent her a Christmas card. (She was living in Oklahoma.) She sent me one back. I called her. She called me back.

A year and a month later, after an incredible courtship, we were married.

We met on an airplane where I was not supposed to be. It was the only possible opportunity for us to ever meet. som people say it was fate, some say it was luck.

My opinion? It was divine guidance, and God has a sense of humor.
We are soul mates. How else could this have happened?