The Generosity of Strangers!

An unbelievable story!

The story starts Sunday, January 25, 2009. I was on a flight to Minneapolis Minnesota. The gentleman next to me seemed like any other traveler. We chatted while watching movies on the flight.

As we were exiting the plane, the traveler gave me his business card. I recognized a company name on the card and asked about the company. Wrong company. Oh well. The company I was thinking of could have been able to get us Super Bowl tickets. I asked the traveler anyway. He said he could make it happen. Just call his office tomorrow to follow up. Wow!

January 26, 2009
In between visiting vendors, I called his office. His assistant was expecting my call and took down my information. This was really surprising. Everything the day before could have just been casual talk on the plane.
The fact that his assistant was expecting the call got me very excited.

January 28, 2009.
I received a voicemail. The traveler had been able to get the tickets. He asked me to call his assistant and give her a mailing address. Absolutely unbelievable! This may actually be real!

I was able to speak with the traveler later in the day, he said he was happy to do this for me. I explained how overwhelmed I was that he was willing to do this and how much it would mean to me and my son. He asked for two conditions …
1) Call him after the game and let him know how it was.
2) Help out someone else when they ask you for a favor.

The company I work for builds heart monitors. I was wearing one of our new products for testing when we spoke. My heart rate jumped to 220 beats per minute.

January 29, 2009.
FedEx arrives at the house. Mary calls me at work. I immediately drop the conference call we were on and agree to meet her halfway between work and home to open the envelope. My coworkers look at me funny as I run out the door.

We meet in a shopping center parking lot and look at the envelope. It came from the Minnesota Vikings ticket office. Wow! I gently open the envelope and find two tickets to the Super Bowl. The generosity of strangers is amazing.