While airports might usually cause a lot of stress, they can also be spaces where strangers help out during the worst moments of travel anxiety.
An incident of this kind happened to Beth Bornstein Dunnington as she was taking a flight out of LA.
The Hawaiian mother was at LAX waiting to get on a plane to Portland. While she was in the departure area with other travelers who were waiting to board their own flights, she noticed a mom who was having some issues with her toddler boy.
She wrote the following in a Facebook post:
“A toddler who looked to be eighteen or so months old was having a total meltdown, running between the seats, kicking and screaming, then lying on the ground, refusing to board the plane.”
“His young mom, who was clearly pregnant and traveling alone with her son, became completely overwhelmed… she couldn’t pick him up because he was so upset, he kept running away from her, then lying down on the ground, kicking and screaming again.”
“The mother finally sat down on the floor and put her head in her hands, with her kid next to her still having a meltdown, and started crying.”
Beth was then touched by what followed.
Six or seven women from all across the area gathered around the young mom, encircled her baby, and each of them did something to calm them both down.
“I sang ‘The Itsy Bitsy Spider’ to the little boy… one woman had an orange that she peeled; one woman had a little toy in her bag that she let the toddler play with; another woman gave the mom a bottle of water.
“Someone else helped the mom get the kid’s sippy cup out of her bag and give it to him.”
Even though they did not talk about their shared goal, they were able to calm the mother and baby until they were able to successfully board the plane.
“After they went through the door we all went back to our separate seats and didn’t talk about it… we were strangers, gathering to solve something.
“It occurred to me that a circle of women, with a mission, can save the world. I will never forget that moment,” she added.\
See Beth’s original post in the link below:
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