10 minutes in Miami

I am writing from Charlotte, NC where I am visiting my friends and celebrating the upcoming birth of a baby boy.
Today was insane. Due to mis-reading my itinerary, I showed up at the airport expecting to board a 9:35am flight and soon realized that I was 5 minutes too late for a 9:05am flight and they wouldn't let me board.
It seemed as though I would be out of luck but I could choose to be on stand by flights all day with no guarantee of getting anywhere.
My original itinerary was taking me from Tallahassee to Miami and then to Charlotte...going south to go north is cheaper than going directly north because the Tallahassee airport is not stellar...
The next flight going out was at 2pm and I questioned whether I should embark on an uncertain journey but since the ticket was non-refundable, I felt bad throwing that money away...plus I really wanted to see my amigos.
I went home to kill time and see my husband who came down with a nasty flu the night before and we talked about what I should do. I said, "I will pray that if the journey won't go smoothly, God won't allow me to leave Tallahassee."
I prayed continuously and headed back to the airport to begin the second leg of my journey.
I waited with my 'stand by' ticket in hand and began talking to a ticket agent about my options. It appeared as though the earliest I would get out of Miami would be 9pm and there was no guarantee. I called my friend Carey in Miami to see if we could grab dinner and we planned to meet up during my stop over.
It turned out that the ticket agent I was speaking with was actually the pilot of the plane I was about to board.
I got a seat and once on the plane, the stewardess approached me and said that the pilot was working on getting me on a 4:05 flight out of Miami but that it would be tight, since we weren't set to get into Miami until 3:55. She pretty much convinced me that it would be impossible and that I would most likely be spending the night in Miami.
She spent a lot of time on her special plane phone and after much discussion, she came back to me and said that my pilot friend had secured me a seat on the 4:05 flight and that he would do what he could to get me there on time.
I was amazed that someone I didn't know would go through such lengths to help me.
We arrived in Miami in record time. I was told the pilot would walk me across the tarmac to directly board the other plane. When we found out I was not allowed to walk on the tarmac, the following announcement occurred:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, We have a young lady here who needs to catch a flight, so if you all wouldn't mind remaining seated, we are going to use the shuttle bus to bring her to her connection and then we will come back for all of you."
Mortified yet over joyed, I was a little overwhelmed. I have never, EVER received customer service to this extreme before.
Suddenly, a slow clap began and a little cheering, a few eye rolls but I chose to ignore those. I was going to make it!
They got me on the bus and we headed towards the 4:05 flight. I was the first one on and was directed to sit in 5A for a non-stop flight to Charlotte, NC. I quickly called Carey to reschedule our dinner date for another day when I am stuck in Miami ;)...which could be Monday...seriously.
As I passed by the front of the plane, I saw my pilot friend through the window and mouthed, "Thank you!"
I'm hoping to track him down and send him a thank you card.
And that's how I spent 10 minutes in Miami.