Welcome back: A love story
I'm back from two weeks of mostly being on vacation and hope you are, too. Hubby and I arrived at LAX late last night and saw a very unusual chauffeur sign in baggage claim.
At the bottom of the escalator where men in suits wait with placards for "R. Lapin" or "M. Schrader" was a young man holding a manilla folder. In purple marker were the words "The world's most beautiful woman."
Awww.
I pointed it out to Hubby. "He made a sign for you," Hubby said. I smirked. Nice try big guy. But it made me wonder who the sign was for. His girlfriend? His wife? I stopped to watch the young man from a distance while Hubby fetched our bags.
The man's eyes were trained on a stream of arriving travelers coming down the escalator. He never took his eyes off the arrival line unless someone sparked a conversation.
I imagined the young man was here to pick up his girlfriend. She would burst into tears and he would get down on one knee and propose. Or maybe he was a newlywed in the throes of desire. Being separated for even a weekend compelled him to declare his love in public ink.
I imagined there would be a squeal when she saw the sign, a big hug, probably tears.
My cell phone rang. Hubby had our bags and wanted to meet outside. Still no girl.
We dragged our luggage to the bus stop (and you thought there was no bargain angle - we got home for $.75 each). Luckily the bus stop was just outside so I could continue to watch.
Not only was this young man very sweet, he was very early. Why was she taking so long?
One bus came, not ours. Another bus stopped on its way to an unhelpful destination. Still no girl. Finally, the bus Hubby and I needed pulled up. One last look back. She was there!
They were tightly embraced. I could not hear words. I could not see tears. They unlocked, then grabbed each other again. I saw her pull away and take out a camera. A picture to remember the sentiment. I had a feeling she would never forget.
Hubby and I got on the bus and went home.
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About The Bargain Hunter
Daily News staff writer Julia Scott loves to find bargains on everything from groceries to Gucci. Her tips will help keep your hard earned cash where it belongs - in your pocket.
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wow, so sweet! Your story riveted my attention. love how you managed to put in the bargain angle!
That was so romantic, you almost made me cry.
While I enjoyed your love story today, it bugs me when story-tellers refer to "Wifey," "Hubby," "LW," etc., instead of giving, at least, a first name to wifey, hubby, LW. As a retired journalist/reporter, if I was referring to Kathy in a story, I said Kathy.
Thanks, Caroline and Angie! I'm glad you liked the story. It really choked me up to see that young man with his sign. ~Julia
Since your website won't accept my name and password, this is a redo!
As for "hubby" -- re: your airport love story -- what IS his name?
Phillip, a number of readers have let me know they are having trouble registering to comment. My apologies. The tech guys know about the problem and are working on it. Thank you for your patience. ~Julia
As I started to read this, I thought you were setting this up and the ending would be that the gentleman wasn't exactly sure by face whom he would be meeting.
I thought for sure it was probably some kind of mail-order bride of the likes from Russia or the Philippines...LOL
Who knows...maybe it was?
How in the hell did you and hubby get home for .75c. on the bus? The Van Nuys Flyaway just went up to $6.00, each way.
The only thing that comes to mind, and this is from my memory of other transit agencies local fares (from my time on a couple of committees for City of Santa Clarita Transit), was that you rode Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus.
I believe Santa Monica is the only transit system with local fares under $1.00 anymore, except for LA.DOT's DASH service, which does not serve LAX.
Santa Monica does have one of the best local transit systems in the United States. Santa Clarita has used Santa Monica as one of many models for our own city operated transit service.
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
SCRS, you have a good imagination. A mail-order bride! Does that still exist? I can't be sure but it looked like the couple knew each other well. But perhaps that is just in my imagination!
You have an excellent memory of the bus system. Very impressive. ~Julia