Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Regina Deo was one of the first passengers to board a Southwest Airlines flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
This happened in May 2013, and Dio, 66, was returning from a family wedding, and she suffers from health conditions, so she asked for help to transport her in a wheelchair during her trip. There were no pre-booked seats on this flight, but early boarding allowed her to reserve a front row seat.
Soon, Debra Johnson, 57, who was traveling from her home in Arizona to visit her daughter, arrived and joined Deo in the same row.
Several passengers later entered, including 67-year-old Winnie McMurrow, returning from visiting a friend in the Monument Valley, and she sat between them.
These women had never met, but as soon as the plane was ready to take off, they knew that they were close in thinking.
Dio welcomed the two women kindly. Then she bonded with McMurrow when they started knitting.
“Knitting and crochet relieve my stress while traveling,” McMorrow told CNN. “I was crocheting and Regina was knitting.” On the other hand, she said, Deborah was probably working on her laptop. But we soon started talking.”
“It’s like we were alone on the plane,” Johnson told CNN.
“We just got to know each other, but it felt like we’ve been friends for years,” Dio added.
Johnson is a frequent traveler, formerly TWA as a flight attendant for many years, and now in the hotel industry, and has been practicing yoga for three decades.
She told her two new friends that in her opinion, flight attendants should instruct passengers to practice yoga while on flights.
The two friends liked the idea and encouraged Johnson to contact Southwest Airlines to discuss the proposal.
“We were talking, laughing, and suggesting all possible ideas to make the airline industry and the travel experience more enjoyable,” Dio explained.
“We laughed a lot,” McMurrow added.
Then the conversation moved in turn to their travel plans for that day, their lives, their careers, and their families.
Then Johnson waved her hand to a flight attendant, and bought each of the women a glass of wine.
“Debra offered us wine and it was a nice gesture from her,” McMurrow said, adding that they “shared stories.”
Dio recounts the facts of this trip, saying, “We were talking regarding our families, sharing information regarding our children, and what each of them does with their lives.”
The three women of almost the same age share the same values, despite having experienced different lives in different parts of the country. McMaru is a retired nurse living in Maine, USA, and loves to travel. Dio lives in Albany, New York, and would have liked to travel more, but she is passionate regarding Reiki therapy and her volunteer work to help people with AIDS.
They share a love of exchanging ideas, finding times for joy and daily communication.
“What happened is like magic,” Dio said, noting that “she can’t believe they domesticated each other like this. This is a rare occurrence.”
Travel from Phoenix to Baltimore normally takes 4 hours, but bad weather changed the itinerary that day, extending it by an hour.
Deo, Johnson, and McMurrow did not feel the passage of time.
“This storm has given us more time to bond,” Dio said.
“We may have been silent only when the arrival was announced,” Johnson said, adding that there was something to do with camouflaging with strangers.
She continued, “We don’t have a history together, and we didn’t need to know each other’s history. It was an extraordinary time, out of the ordinary, I think.”
keep in touch
When the plane landed in Baltimore, they each went on their way to complete their journey.
“You feel like you’re getting away from meeting really cool people,” McMurrow said. When she returned to Maine, she wrote on her blog regarding her unforgettable trip: “On the journey home, I sat between two admirable ladies, and the time flew by in the four- to five-hour journey.”
Over the next two days, the women searched for each other online and connected via social media.
Then they shared their home addresses, and Johnson sent them greeting cards she designed. McMurrow was surprised by how kind he was.
Once they started communicating on Facebook, they discovered the things they had in common that they didn’t fully realize on the plane. Staying in touch was a natural step.
“I think because of age, we share a love for the same things,” Johnson said.
The three ladies appreciate beauty, with Johnson explaining that if “it’s pretty thread or woven fabric. I know they’ll make exceptional comments on the pictures I post.”
Over the past nine years, McMaru, Johnson, and Deo have respected each other’s values and the importance of long distance communication that brightens their days from a distance.
In this regard, Johnson said: “When I get a letter from them, I take it as a warm hug.”
A few years earlier, when Johnson moved from Arizona to Utah, Dio sent her a brochure for Pete, with a book break on which she wrote: “Good friends are like stars…You don’t always see them, but you know they’re always there.”
“I always use this book break,” Johnson said.
Dio saw that constant communication with her two friends through social networking sites was “joyful” and inspiring, saying: “This encourages me to continue growing,” noting that “both encourage her to do so.”
McMaru indicated that if she receives a message from Regina, it must be something very important, valuable, and has many cultural aspects,” stressing that she is a “great person.”
“Debra is the motivator and motivator,” McMaru said. “She has a lot of experience, and when she writes regarding a project she’s working on, I really enjoy seeing it. I think of Debra as someone who loves family and has the most beautiful family.”
Thus, this meeting moved in the air on the plane to the world of social networking, where it deepened and became a space for strong communication, and the exchange of ideas.
“I think that’s the beauty of meeting a stranger and having a relationship with them,” Johnson said. “This gift, for me,” she said, “is to be able to speak freely with them and take up topics that I would not discuss with my children.”
From time to time they come back to Johnson’s idea of yoga on the plane, and in their recent discussions they agreed that the current phenomenon of rowdy passengers might necessitate this idea.
Despite the distance between these three friends, they are ready to support each other. When Dio was discharged from the hospital last year and back home, a bouquet of flowers sent to her by Johnson was waiting for her. She commented, “I was really surprised by her kindness, generosity, and attention, and it affected me deeply.” She continued, “Winnie and Depp have been a wonderful support for me in my life path.”
Friends for life
When they parted ways at Baltimore Airport, they knew they might never meet once more in person. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t dream of meeting up in person someday. “It would be great,” McMurrow commented, as she loves getting to know the Johnsons, looking at their life and work in Utah, discovering Albany with Deo, seeing her many volunteer activities, and also loves to show them where she lives in Maine.
In the meantime, Deo suggests the three get together to think and discuss how to make flying more fun.
“I think it will be a useful tool for all of us to share ideas, get some or all of the airlines approved, and accept these ideas that we put forward that encourage the formation of friendships and alliances on aircraft,” Dio said.
Johnson envisions them meeting close to a beach and “eating, telling stories, and making memories.”
The three women hope their story will encourage others to open up to strangers and be positive.
