Our chance encounter with Matt

The day we were flying home to NY, we got a big surprise. While sitting in Chicago's O'Hare Airport, Matt called informing me that he too, was going to be having a layover in Chicago. Problem was that Makaela and I departed at 11:50am and he wouldn't be getting in until 1:45pm. We were going to miss each other. Bummed out, I asked the ticketing agent if there was a later flight. I got some weird looks and a snide comment that there was only one flight to Hawaii a day out of Chicago. Stupid me... oh well. About 40 minutes later, I noticed that our departure had been delayed- our plane was broken and couldn't be repaired so they were having another plane come to Chicago to pick us up. The entire ordeal would take an additional 3 hours, so our new departure time was 2:30. I called up Matt and told him the good news. We were going to be cutting it close, but there was a good 45 minutes between his landing and my departure, right?...

At 1:50pm, they started boarding our flight and I called Matt, but his plane was just taxing to the gate. He was arriving in the United terminal which was clear across the airport from our terminal. At 2pm, I called and he couldn't speak because he was running across the aiport to get to us. At 2:10, the lobby was pretty much emptied, everyone having boarded our plane. Makaela and I were standing in the center of the gate area so I could see the hallway in which Matt would be coming down and also in clear vision of my gate to make sure they didn't close the door on us. I was getting pretty upset thinking that we might be missing each other by seconds and thinking how Matt would be devastated if we weren't there after running all that way. Just when I was able to turn around to the gate, I saw him running down the hallway in his Army camo. It was like the parting of the Red Sea- everyone was moving out of his way. I told Makaela that Daddy was there and she ran to meet him, jumping up into his arms. In the middle of this madness, I was able to get one picture to capture the moment, even though it felt like something out of a movie.

Now everyone is staring at this military guy hugging his daughter and the teary-eyed pregnant wife in the airport...what a scene this was, but leave it to Makaela to do something comical. After a few seconds of hugging and kissing, Makaela turns to Matt and says, "Yuck". She had realized that he was getting all his sweat on her (after running across the airport, there was a lot of sweat) and she wiped off her face. After a few more kisses and sweaty hugs (which Makaela was reluctant to fall for that one again), we had to board. We literally got to spend a minute with him. As we walked away, Makaela turned to me and asked, "Why daddy no coming on the plane?" It was really hard to keep the tears back at this point. Matt said when we left, a few other passengers in the seating area were crying too. What a moment!