Trish and I stayed at the MGM Signature condo that the company I work for owns. Managers at CentiMark are allowed the use of the condo yearly.
We were so impressed with the condo that we took loads of pictures. Subsequently the pictures made it on my Facebook page.
A pic of us awaiting for the Fountain Show at The Belaggio.
I also shared this photo and a Facebook friend Barbara posted the following comment. "I have a friend there at a np (nurse practitioner) conference. I think I will heading there in October!"
I read that statement and my only thought was, "Sweet! Honeymoon maybe?" I didn't really pay much attention to the "friend in Vegas part." But my brain definitely filed it for later use. How soon or if ever was unknown, but it was tucked in there. Little did I know that this data will be used on our red-eye flight home.
It is strange how coincidences happen. One coincidence is that the reunion fell on the same week the Nurse Practitioners Convention. Secondly, our choice of flying Spirit Airlines. Oh by the way this was the first week of Spirit's flights out of DFW. I may have procrastinated a little bit in buying our tickets. If I had not we most likely would have been flying American Airlines or Delta, our choice of airlines. Spirit also enticed Barbara's friend to drive down to DFW from Oklahoma rather than to drive up to OKC. Which guaranteed her a return flight to DFW. And last factor was somehow I got to board the plane with the first group to board. Which almost guaranteed that I can eavesdrop on fellow passenger's conversations.
Sure enough, as I was sitting I hear a woman in the row in front of me say, "I am from Oklahoma and I was in town for the NP convention." Hearing that I mentioned that I have a friend from Oklahoma, who had a friend in Vegas for the same convention. Somehow I felt emboldened to ask the woman if she knew a Barbara C. To my delight she said yes! That one of her best friends was indeed Barbara C. By this time I am forcefully smiling because I do not want to freak out Tasha P. by bawling in front of her. So I just said, "Barbara is my hero and I cannot wait to introduce you to my wife." I sat back in my seat and tried to calm myself. At which this time Tasha looked back and said, "I think I know how you know Barbara. Son?" I just nodded with tears running down my face. Tasha then warmly said, "I am so sorry, she called me that very same night of the accident. She wanted my advice if she should reach out to you guys and contact you." She kept on saying I am so sorry for your loss. Again I just sat back saying, "I cannot wait to introduce you to my wife." Fifteen minutes or so later Patricia has finally boarded and I told her about Tasha. My wife is definitely the more social person in our marriage. She handles meeting people way better than I do. But this occurrence she was almost as clumsy as I was. She handled the meeting very well and did not have a lot of opportunity to talk because the plane was full by now and getting ready to take-off.
That flight took-off at 2:00AM CST. Time was not an issue for me - I had to tell my hero, Barbara, that "Tasha is sitting in front of us on the plane." So I texted her that right then and there. When we landed in Dallas, I had two texts from Barbara. One was just plainly "HUH?" and the other was, "Lol how funny! Really is a small world! Just dawned on me who this was and who you meant. She is my buddy. I miss her." Tasha and Trish did get the opportunity to speak while waiting for our luggage. My wife exchanged numbers with Tasha and we are all now FB friends.
I do not know what all this means, but what I do feel is that somehow we have to meet Barbara face-to-face. I know it will take a lot of strength from us. But I do know we have to meet Barbara.
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