GIFT GIVES MOTHER A DAY OF PLANES AND ROSES.Byline: Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
These kinds of stories aren't suppose to happen in jaded jad·ed adj. 1. Worn out; wearied: "My father's words had left me jaded and depressed" William Styron. 2. , don't-bother-me, get out-of-my-face, I'm-way-too-busy-to-talk-to-you, L.A. Once in a while, though, they do. Once in a while strangers in a hurry meet and before they know it, they're smiling, laughing and coming together for something completely unexpected. Like making Lelia Vodhanel's 75th birthday surprise Friday at Burbank Airport with complete strangers disembarking from the 2:55 p.m. Southwest Airlines This article is about the American airline. For the former Japanese airline, see Japan Transocean Air. For the British airline, see Air Southwest. Southwest Airlines Co. flight from Phoenix to Burbank a day the Northridge woman will never forget. One by one, in single file, people who Lelia had never seen before in her life, got off that plane, walked up to her, and handed her a single, long-stemmed, American Beauty rose The American Beauty is a type of rose flower with a rich red color, introduced in the United States in 1875 by George Valentine Nash. The flower is commemorated in the Joseph Lamb ragtime composition "American Beauty Rag". , wishing her a happy birthday. Some of them even hugged and kissed her on the cheek, while everyone in the terminal started clapping and breaking out into a chorus of ``Happy Birthday,'' including the people in the terminal waiting to get on the plane. ``I was in shock,'' Lelia said Monday. ``I kept thinking, Who are these people? How do they all know me?'' For that, you have to meet Lelia's daughter, Toni Elkins. She's the mastermind behind one of the most innovative, funny and heart-warming heart·warm·ing or heart-warm·ing adj. 1. Causing gladness and pleasure. 2. Eliciting sympathy and tender feelings: a heartwarming tale. birthday gags I've heard of in a long time. Toni, who lives in Phoenix, was carrying two boxes of 75 long-stemmed, American Beauties American Beauty n. A type of rose bearing large, long-stemmed purplish-red flowers. and a great idea with her last Friday when she got on the airplane airplane, aeroplane, or aircraft, heavier-than-air vehicle, mechanically driven and fitted with fixed wings that support it in flight through the dynamic action of the air. to visit her mother in Burbank for her birthday. She put the boxes in the overhead compartment compartment a part of the body as a whole and divided from the rest by a physical partition. fluid compartment that liquid part of the body excluded by cell membranes. Includes intravascular and intercellular compartments. , and called over a flight attendant ATTENDANT. One who owes a duty or service to another, or in some sort depends upon him. Termes de la Ley, h.t. As to attendant terms, see Powell on Morts. Index, tit. Attendant term; Park on Dower, c. 1 7. , telling her it was her mom's 75th birthday and she had this, well, this kind of crazy request she'd like to make. ``Would it be possible when we land in Burbank for me to talk to the other passengers before we get off the plane to see if they'd take one rose each and give it to my mom (1) (Messaging-Oriented Middleware) See messaging middleware. (2) (Microsoft Operations Manager) Software that monitors and captures system and application events throughout the network. for her birthday?'' Toni asked. The attendant did a double take, smiled and said she would ask the pilot. The pilot said any daughter wanting to do that for her mother was the kind of daughter he liked. Sure, he said. So, when the plane touched down in Burbank, Toni Elkins was escorted to the front of the aircraft and handed the intercom microphone microphone, device for converting sound into electrical energy, used in radio broadcasting, recording, and sound amplifying systems. Its basic component is a diaphragm that responds to the pressure or particle velocity of sound waves. . ``Excuse me,'' she said. ``I know you're all in a rush to get to where you're going, but it's my mom's 75th birthday, and she's in that terminal waiting for me right now. ``I was wondering if each of you would give her one of these roses and wish her a happy birthday as you walk by her,'' Toni asked. When I talked to Toni at work in Phoenix on Monday, she said she didn't know what to expect after making the request, but what happened next made her feel like a million bucks. ``Every face I looked into, everyone, was smiling and nodding nod v. nod·ded, nod·ding, nods v.intr. 1. To lower and raise the head quickly, as in agreement or acknowledgment. 2. To let the head fall forward when sleepy. 3. yes,'' she said. ``A few of them said they wished they'd thought of something like this for their own mothers.'' The flight attendants arranged for Toni to walk off the plane first and alone, before the other passengers disembarked a few minutes later. ``I was watching from the windows in the terminal when the doors to the plane opened, and Toni came walking down the stairway stairway or staircase Series or flight of steps that provides a means of moving from one level to another. The earliest stairways seem to have been built with walls on both sides, as in Egyptian pylons dating from the 2nd millennium BC. by herself,'' Lelia said Monday. ``I thought, that's my daughter, the first one off. I had no idea what was coming next.'' Toni hugged and kissed her mom, wishing her a happy birthday and handing her a single rose. ``Thank you, honey,'' Lelia said. ``It's such a beautiful rose.'' Mom, you haven't seen anything, yet, Toni thought to herself, smiling. And, then they came - one by one, single file - an army of strangers flying into Burbank Airport on a busy Friday afternoon - each carrying a single, long-stemmed, American Beauty rose for a woman none of them knew, but weren't too busy to care about. ``A young man walked up to me, handed me a rose and said, `Happy birthday,' '' Lelia said. ``I looked at my daughter and asked, Do I know him? She just kept smiling. ``Then the woman behind him gives me a rose and a hug, and the woman behind her. They just kept coming.'' Southwest Airlines operations agent Danielle Milnes said she has worked a lot of flights in her five years at Burbank Airport and has never seen anything like this. ``I was in awe,'' she said. ``People were practically in tears. None of us could believe what we were seeing. ``I spent the whole weekend thinking about it,'' she said. ``I wish I could have done something like that for my mother before she died.'' It will be a memory Toni and her mother will share forever, Toni said Monday. ``Imagine what these people told their families when they got home later,'' she said. Whatever it was, I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped and picked up some roses first. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Lelia Vodhanel said she ``was in shock'' when strangers at Burbank Airport handed her roses for her birthday. It was a surprise planned by her daughter. Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer |
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