Angel Agents

Fine. Lesson learned. When forced to make a decision between driving to Monroe, Louisiana or flying with a connection, I will now drive. Always.

My flight from Houston to Monroe had me stopping at DFW for a quick one hour layover. When it was announced our flight out of Houston would be delayed an hour, I thought, well there goes my connection. I spoke with the agent in Houston who didn't seem to think it would be much of a problem as we would probably make up some time in the air. Ok, I thought, I'll pray for a miracle then. Sure enough our plane lingered on the runway and when we landed at DFW my flight to Monroe had already left. Cool. Not really.

I was now forced to make a decision. There were no more flights to small town Monroe that night and there were none early enough in the morning for me to make it to my hearings. Do I now drive the four hours to Monroe? I had a hotel waiting there and my clients had been waiting three months for their hearing date. Or do I forget the whole thing, I tried after all, call my clients, and find a hotel in Dallas for the night? I opted for the path of least resistance and decided to suck it up and drive to Monroe. It was going to be a late night.

This brings me to my first angel agent.

John

I'm not sure if the United agent at DFW that helped me was in fact named John, but, given the other two agents in this story, it had to have been.

I explained to John in a pleasant but fatigued and isn't-tonight-going-to-be-fun sort of way about my predicament.  Because there were no other flights to choose from, he kindly processed a refund for the flight I had missed. In addition, he decided to take pity on a lonely, destitute female who would now have to make her way to a "foreign" land in the dead of night and gave me, wait for it, a $100 voucher to be used on any United flight within the next year! I'll take it!

John was a saint and I'm not sure I adequately thanked him enough for going above and beyond.

Peter

Yes, the rental car agent was in fact named Peter. I'm not sure he was really an angel agent. More like a tempter agent, but we'll call him an angel for getting me a one-way car rental and for keeping me awake my first hour of driving. I'll explain.

Pete was a great listener. He heard my sad little tale along with the over sharings that usually come out of my mouth in times of stress. Something I over shared must have elicited the following comment.

"I don't understand why women think, if they're not all done up, they're ugly." He slowly shook his head. Was this an indirect compliment or just a reflection on my gender as a whole? I couldn't tell.

But then, knowing I was headed through Shreveport, he offered, "If it was the weekend, I'd take you to the casino."

Now we're talking. If this were a movie, we would now cut to visions of me and Petey headed east in a rented convertible, my hair and scarf flapping in the wind, hands high in the air, shades on, red lips smiling, and both of us gleefully anticipating drowning in coins and poker chips with our new found love interest. But it wasn't the weekend, it was a Wednesday. And my health and safety remained in tact.

But it was these visions (and a chocolate shake, phone call, and music) that kept me awake as I started my four hour drive at 10:00 at night.

James

So yes, my angel agents were Peter, James and well, maybe John.

I did safely arrive into Monroe and made it to my hearings the next morning. For some reason I was booked on a late afternoon return flight. When it was announced that the flight out of Monroe was delayed an hour and that once again I would miss my connection in Dallas, I tried my best to hold it together. But after only four hours of sleep, I was deteriorating fast.

This is when the stars aligned and I met James. Sweet, blessed James. James did the impossible. He transferred my American Airlines ticket to a United flight. The United flight boarded in just twenty minutes. It was a direct flight into Houston. I would arrive three hours ahead of schedule. I got a window seat and an aisle seat. I got to land in Terminal B. I, therefore, got to restock on a much needed supply of chocolate covered gummy bears for a friend and I. I got to go to bed early. This was a miracle.

John was generous. Pete was fun. But James, you did the impossible. You have my heart.