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(CNN) — Somewhere on that 7 a.m. Greyhound bus journey between Port Authority and Albany, I began crying.
Being stranded by a blizzard in New York had been enjoyable at first: crunching via piled-high sidewalks was a Christmas film come true.
I acquired much less of a kick out of spending hours on maintain in my shoebox lodge room, scrambling to get journey rescheduled at one of many busiest instances of the 12 months.
I used to be alone, having prolonged a work journey, and I had a associate in London to get again to, adopted by a journey to see household in Ireland and a new child niece.
I lastly finagled a patchwork itinerary that might get me dwelling. Since there have been no flights from New York City to London, I acquired a seat on a flight from Albany to Detroit on December 22, then one other on a red-eye flight to London. I’d hop again to my house for an hour or two, then catch a flight to Belfast on the night of the 23rd.
One-way ticket to Albany
I barely slept the night time earlier than, which was lucky as my lodge room’s alarm clock by no means went off. Waking simply by likelihood, I threw my issues collectively and raced throughout city in a blind panic.
The grubby grey concrete of Port Authority bus terminal is not any prettier by daybreak’s early mild.
I used to be on the earliest bus doable, however the schedule was 40 minutes later than marketed and, because the journey acquired underway, it was delayed even additional.
Realizing that I used to be on a pointless journey upstate to Albany, a place I’d by no means even heard of until 24 hours earlier, and that I would not be dwelling with household by December 25, I gave in and commenced to weep.
The December 2009 North American blizzard introduced record-breaking snowfalls to the US East Coast.
Maureen O’Hare/CNN
Planes, trains and cars
“Are you okay?” requested the girl within the window seat subsequent to me. It was calming to see a kindly face after the stony blankness of the officers at Port Authority and we fell into dialog.
Susan Lee was a realtor from Brooklyn, on her option to her mom’s for the vacations, and as we talked, I started to chill out and settle for my state of affairs. Then Susan got here up with a plan.
Instead of staying on the bus to the airport, my new buddy and I have been quickly hopping off collectively at Albany Bus Terminal, the place Susan’s mom Judy was ready within the automotive to select her daughter up.
Susan took the wheel and the three of us made the 12-mile sprint to the airport, the Lees’ plan for the morning put to 1 facet.
I jumped out of the automotive, raced via the airport and made it onto the primary of three flights. I acquired to London the following day, despatched Susan a thank-you e mail, and by night I used to be again dwelling, able to spend Christmas Eve within the Northern Irish countryside.
And that was that, till April 2020.
‘We want that proper now’
“I’m just so excited that you got in touch with me,” beamed Susan, becoming a member of me through Zoom from the cottage in Sullivan County, New York, the place she and her associate had gone to take a seat out the coronavirus lockdown.
She was fresh-faced and smiling, and it was exhausting to consider that greater than ten years had handed since that fateful journey.
I used to be in my bed room in North London, within the dwelling I purchased a couple of years earlier than. I’ve been at CNN 5 years now, having been laid off on the on-line video start-up which introduced me to New York in 2009. My Irish household’s a little larger, with a nephew becoming a member of us in 2010.
The pandemic restrictions have given me a lot extra time to reconnect with individuals on-line, which is why I’d dug out Susan’s enterprise card from a drawer and Googled her.
Susan advised me she’d choked up when she acquired that shock communication telling her that, as soon as upon a time, she’d finished a little factor that meant a lot. “We need that right now,” she added.
“I traveled quite a bit when I was younger, too, so I received a lot of goodness from people,” recalled Susan. “It was a feel-good moment, you know. It was rewarding to get your email and find out what had happened.”
Susan Lee (left) and Maureen O’Hare (proper) catch up by video name from their houses in upstate New York and North London.
Maureen O’Hare/CNN
Family ties
In 2009, “I was just going to spend Christmas with my mom,” she stated. “My father had passed away a year prior to that. It felt sort of empty with my father being gone.”
The Lees emigrated to the US from Seoul, South Korea, in 1976. Her father was a dental technician, and “he wanted to live the American dream.”
Said Susan, “It’s a horrible thing to lose a loved one, especially somebody that I loved dearly. But looking back now, it’s quite amazing how I’ve been able to move on, when I thought that I wouldn’t be able to live without him.”
Susan has a sister in Hawaii and a brother in California, whereas Judy remains to be in Albany, a couple of hours’ drive away from Susan’s cottage.
“She’s an amazing woman. A cancer survivor, she’s had such health issues for a lot of her life,” stated Susan. “When Covid-19 came out I was very concerned because she has to travel three times a week to the dialysis center.”
Susan had made a socially distanced go to to Judy 10 days earlier, to convey provides. “It was weird not to be able to hug her,” she stated, however she was glad her mom was protected and properly.
‘Make lemonades with lemons’
Susan helped me reunite with household that 12 months, however now, like billions all over the world, we’re unsure once we’ll be capable to hug our family members again. It’s a reminder to treasure the moments we have now.
December 22 would be the 11-year anniversary of the day Susan helped me get dwelling. This 12 months I had flights booked from London to Belfast on that day too, to spend Christmas with the household I’ve not seen since March.
Now that the UK journey bubble has been canceled and London is in lockdown, I’ll be spending the vacations with my new housemate of a few months, and catching up with family and friends over video.
Back in 2009, I used Google Hangouts to ring dwelling when stranded, and video calls have additionally been a nice assist this 12 months — and the WiFi’s higher too.
I’ll be messaging Susan as we speak forward of our anniversary, to learn the way the remainder of her 12 months has panned out. Back in April, her work as a realtor had paused, however she advised me she was doing her finest to “enjoy the less stressful life” and “really trying to make lemonade with lemons here.”
We ended our name with hopes to have drinks in individual in the future, once we may go away our houses and the Atlantic was not between us.
Said Susan, “It’ll take a little time, but life will continue.”
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