My Airplane Mom

As I was on my way from New York to London, I set next to this woman and her husband. Their names are Mr & Mrs. Russell. They were the sweetest older-couple I have ever seen. They are from Florida and were on their way to Rome.

This picture was taken at 6am in the morning, at the Heathrow London airport. That's why we look hung over. We also look this way because the liquor and wine was UNLIMITED and FREE on the plane! She was coming down off of Jack Daniels and I was coming off two small bottles of wine.

Mrs. Russell became my airplane mom for numerous reasons: 1) after about 1hr into the trip she claimed me as her adopted child to her husband 2) she was worried that I would go hungry as I made my way to Europe, so she made me stuff hard dinner biscuits into my purse for later consumption 3) she made sure I was nice and comfy by adusting my blanket over me while I slept on the plane.

She's an angel. As we were taking off in the plane from the JFK airport, I had my eyes closed. Suddenly, I felt this warm hand on top of mine and it was Mrs. Russell's. I couldn't tell if she was praying, or if she needed to just hold someone's hand (although her husband was sitting on the other side of her), or if she was giving me comfort. As we were ascending in the air she rubbed my hand and when we reached the require altitude she patted my hand softly and then let go. I don't know why she did this, considering the fact we had only known eachother for 20mins, but from that point on we became spirit-mother- and-daughter.