On a return flight from Italy, there had been several delays and I had been up for about 36 hours or so. I was in a lobby in O’Hare ariport. I was not crying but close to it, getting ready to get back in yet another line, this time for a hotel voucher where I would at last be able to sleep. A complete stranger woman came up to me and grabbed me. She hugged me really hard, and pushed my hair back and told me that it was going to be ok. She held me while I took some deep breaths, made sure that I was ok before letting me go. I then got in line and another stranger, an airport employee, took me and some other parents with kids and rerouted us to a shuttle and bypassed the check in, straight to a room.
I never got to ask her name and I’ve never forgotten her kindness.