Louis Newman, a millionaire businessman, foliage in the business class, with clear view of anger as he watched a woman accompanied by three children being lead to the neighboring seats. “You can’t be serious! Are you really making her sit here? I can imagine him scooping Miss and saying, “You better fix this!”, fuming angrily at the stewardess.
Smiling calmly as any good stewardess should be, she answered him politely: “I am sorry, sir.” These seats are reserved for; Mrs. Debbie Brown & children. I ask for your cooperation.”
Louis was far from satisfied. “You don’t understand! I have a very important meeting in regard with some foreign investors. Her kids will make noise and I can’t afford to let it get in the way of this deal, mostly because I wouldn’t be able to close it even if I wanted to.” A sneer twisted his lips and with an angry look in his towards the kids he spoke rudely.
Still fuming, Debbie overheard the conversation and responded very politely: “If other passengers are okay with standing instead of sitting in that row, I do not mind standing either.” In fact, she proved quite willing to make adjustments – to the chagrin of some of the tenants.
The stewardess, however, hearken back: Anos, is los to de, pan Años, is los to de, pan the this the that, with the los to that to, you the. “No, ma’am. You’ve bought into these seats and you are entitled to be here. Sir, please don’t act restless until the period of the flight is over.”
Sighing heavily, Louis had to settle next to Debbie and her children. Despite the fact that they were dressed in mufti, they were wearing t-shirts and jeans to a business class environment, which only enraged him further.
Not willing to be around company, Louis pulled out his AirPods and turned his back to the person. On the other side, Debbie busily occupied herself ensuring her children get comfortably seated for the first flight they were ever to be in, a business class flight at that.
‘’Mom, we’re flying!’’ Saying, one of Debbie’s daughter when she was amazed by the wind blowing on her face. Other passengers nearby turned into a smile hearing the innocent happiness, but the gloomy look of Louis did not change at all. Can you tell your children to stop making noise? I’m just in a meeting!” he said rather angrily as if the person on the other end was stupid to not know that he can’t attend a phone call in a meeting.
Debbie mildly gestured to her kids to keep their voices down while Louis attended his virtual conference. What she came to understand was that he was talking business, to be precise, he was explaining designs in the fabric business to investors.
Once the meeting was over, Debbie slowly walked up to him. “Would it be all right if we discussed what you do”? Hey,” she began, curiosity obvious despite her initial aggression about his work, Looking closely you noticed my designs.
Though protesting, annoyed, and encouraged by the end-result of his encounter, Louis said ‘Yeah, I own a clothing company’. We just closed a big deal.”
Debbie appreciated his work and said that she owns a family business of a boutique. And every time, Louis simply laughed scornfully at him. “A boutique? We hire top designers. This is not some minor/low scale operation.”
She felt humiliated and said to him, ‘I understand’. Again, cheers to the deal my friend,” and she tried to maintain an undefended tone despite his arrogance.
Louis persisted and said to her, “A poor woman like you would not comprehend such a great deal making one million dollars. I guess you do not fit the description of a business class fellow. Maybe try economy next time.”
Debbie composed herself and tried to clarify, “My husband is on this flight and..” But before she could finish the pilot came on the loud speaker with the following announcement .
When the flight was 30 minutes from JFK, captain Tyler Brown thanked the passengers and dedicated a final shout out to them, including his wife Debbie. “Debbie, I don’t know what I would have done without you because this wouldn’t have been possible.” It’s special day, babe I’m grateful for you, you’ve been my rock throughout this journey.”
Every muscle in Louis’s body tensed as he tried to comprehend that the man beside Debbie was her husband – the pilot. It must have been one of the greatest moments in the life of the two superstars as Tyler went on his knees to ask the love of his life Debbie, to accept to be his wife for the second time.
Beautifully, Captain Brown came out of the cockpit, got on one knee and asked Debbie to marry him all over again. Debbie was overwhelmed and wiping her tears as she accepted the applause from the cabin for the millionth time.
O, the passengers clapped! Louis remained seated silent and bewildered by the change of events. Debbie going near him the last moment before he got off the plane. What will a man like you get from this world when all you are concerned with is money, love, and family? This may mean we are poor, but we are content to be so because this is how we chose to live our life,” she stood firm.
With that, Debbie & her children got off the plane & that left Louis stunned & embarrassed. The strong and deep message echoed in the room was that true success is in life – not in business, and in our relationships with people we love.
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