My Most Memorable Mayday

 The year was 1969 and my husband worked for American Airlines and they had vacation tours available to the employees. We decided to go on a Mexico City vacation tour. We enjoyed it and loved seeing the historical sites, real Mexican food along with Mariachi singers and dancers. 

We were scheduled to leave to come home on May 1st and didn't realize this was a special holiday for the people in Mexico to travel on that long weekend. We had checked out of our hotel and went to the airport and saw a large crowd of people and realized we were in for a long wait because we were flying standby. The airlines finally brought a plane for the tourists who were heading back to the U.S. We were about ready to board and a young newlywed couple came up to us and asked if we would pay for their flight back and they would reimburse us.  We paid for their flight and got on board with a big sigh of relief and settled back to enjoy our flight back to Texas. 

It was then that my husband noticed a man had a piston on his belt We called for a flight attendant and told her what we saw. This was during the time of airplane highjacking going on. The flight attendant told the captain and we waited and waited to find out what would happen. Quite sometime later the flight attendant let us know he was a policeman. We breathed a sigh of relief! Everything was quiet for a while and then we saw this man in front of us and found out he was having a seizure. The flight attendant was having difficulties getting the airbag down so my husband went to help her and he put it on the man and eventually he became calm.

When we landed at Dallas Love Field we were so excited to get off the plane and go back to our calm life. The pilot came up to my husband and thanked him for knowing what to do and how to do it for the man having a seizure. I look back on that day and now know that even though it was a stressful experience it could have saved a man's life.

I encourage you when you are going through tough or chaotic times remember there is light at the end of the tunnel and your testimony may help someone else know that they can get through times of stress and chaos. 

Happy Mayday!!