I remember the first time I met Ron. I was jumpseating from St. Louis to Atlanta to go to work. As I was putting my suitcase in the overhead bin, Ron started walking up the aisle towards me. I smiled at him and said, “Hi. I’m Eileen….your jumpseater”. Ron smiled back at me and said, “Hello. I’m Ron”. As Ron said hello, I distinctly remember God tapping me on the shoulder. God whispered in my ear. “Pay attention to this person”. My heart remembers this moment like it happened seconds ago. The days, months and years that followed this simple first exchange between Ron and me were filled with a myriad of extraordinary firsts. Not surprisingly, Ron and I looked forward to a lifetime of firsts and growing old together. We often joked there would come a time when we would be too old to do anything but sit on the porch and reminisce about the remarkable blessings we shared together. I cherished this thought then. I cherish this thought now for completely different reasons.
“But the thing about the last time… Is you don’t know that it’s the last time till it is”
NICE, Never knew how you first met. Thanks
Yep. Ron stood up from the passenger seat….Tugged at his pants like he always did to get them to sit better around his big thigh muscles…fixed his red tie nicely around his neck…and walked up the aisle to say hello. When their beverage service was finished he stood by my jumpseat and talked to me the rest of the flight. He told me I had a beautiful smile. (It was the first time, of many times, he told me this). A few weeks later we flew together. And the rest, as they say, “is history”.