The Flight Papers

A saved relationship can be just as important as a saved life. A reader calling herself Smigenk relates how a little "miracle" might have rescued her troubled marriage. A few years ago, she was making every effort to mend her rocky relationship with her husband and set up a long romantic weekend in Bermuda. Then things started to go wrong, and it seemed her plans were ruined... until "fate" intervened:

"My husband grudgingly agreed to go, but was concerned with the short time between our connecting flights," Smigenk says. "We thought things were going well going into Philly, but there had been some bad weather and the planes were backed up; hence, we were put in a holding pattern and landed just as our connecting flight to Bermuda was due to board. We rushed through the airport, only to arrive at the check-in desk as the gate door was closing. I was devastated and my husband was not in a good mood.

We asked for new flights but were told that it would take two more flights and about 10 more hours to arrive. My husband said, 'That's it. I'm not putting up with this anymore,' and started to walk out of the area and -- I just knew -- out of the marriage. I was truly devastated. As my husband was walking away, the attendant saw on the counter (and I swear it had not been there when we checked in) a packet. She was obviously upset that it was still there. It turned out to be the landing papers packet that the pilot must have on board to land in a different country. She quickly called the plane to return. The plane had been on the runway ready to start powering up the engines. It returned to the gate for the papers and they allowed us (and others) to get on.

Our time in Bermuda was wonderful and we resolved to work on our problems. Our marriage has gone through more rough times, but we both have never forgotten that incident in the airport when I felt as if my world had collapsed and was given a miracle that helped us keep a marriage and a family together."