On a recent flight on a Sunday from Houston Bush to Nassau, Bahamas, my wife and I met an elderly lady, who was sitting right next to us. I must admit I felt an immediate connection with her, but I could not pinpoint why.

I will get to that point a little later.

This flight takes about 2.5 hours, and we were running ahead of schedule.

The $20 Gift

Looking back at this chance encounter, I am 100% certain that God wanted us to have these specific seats on this specific flight.

A couple of days before the trip, I logged into my United Airlines account and searched for more comfortable seats. We were flying on a reward ticket, so our chance for an upgrade was small.

I was lucky on this day.

I was able to book the bulkhead seats 7C and 7B, which means there is no one immediately in front of us.

My wife and I were one of the first to board the aircraft. A few minutes later, an elderly lady occupying seat 7A arrived. She was friendly, but she needed help making her way to the window seat. I extended my arm, which helped her with balance as she moved in front of us.

When the flight attendant gave us the snack, we all took the pretzels. However, the friendly lady asked if we wanted them because she was limiting her salt intake.

At some point, she and my wife Dulce struck up a short conversation, and we shared we were on this trip to the Bahamas to celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary.

She said, “Keep doing these trips! My husband and I have been married 53 years, and we make sure to spend quality time with each other.”

Great advice!

Unbeknownst to me, the lady had given my wife $20 to spend on our vacation. In 99.999% of the cases, I would have returned the money, but something was different here.

I know that God had helped form this connection, and I transferred the cash into my left pocket.

The Connection

As the captain made the announcement that we were minutes from landing on the beautiful island, Dulce and the lady shared information regarding kids.

At this point, I joined the conversation.

She said, “Oh, our kids are older. We had two boys. One is doing well in his business, and we are sad that we lost our 43-year-old son not too long ago.”

After letting this comment land and allowing a few seconds to pass,

I said, “There is no doubt God placed us in this row today. Our 29-year-old son is in heaven, and we miss him dearly, too.”

Without hesitation, the elderly lady’s eyes sparkled as she replied:

“I knew it! From the moment I saw you guys, I knew there was something completely different. There was a beautiful connection, but I did not know what it was until now.”

I’m writing this article on Day 2 of our vacation, and we are having a terrific time together. In fact, our time together is even more genuine, loving, and beautiful after our many years together.

However, our vacation was a blessing even before the United jet landed. We know that God provided us comfort regarding the loss of our son by placing this friendly lady next to us.

I keep a journal of each time I have a dream about our son, Eric.

For only the second time in 2023, he was part of a beautiful dream.

God works in the most beautiful ways.