Carrie: It was Saturday, March 18th, early in the morning. I was at Newark Airport flying back to Albany from a work trip in San Diego. With a coffee in hand, I made my way to the departing gate and got in the boarding group 1 lane. Typically I am the first or second person on line, but this time I ended up fourth in line. Someone had beat me to the first position...Randy. I had noticed him as I stood a few people behind him and wondered who he was and more importantly, how he beat me to the front of the line.

Randy: I had been traveling for work to San Francisco every other week for a few months; typically, I take the red eye back to not waste a full day. I had done this many times and this trip, at least to start, was no different. I landed in Newark from SFO and got to the front of the line in the group 1 boarding lane, as I always do, to make sure my carry on makes it into the overhead bin. I boarded the plane and sat down in my aisle seat. When I looked up, I saw Carrie board --- she immediately caught my attention. I kept telling myself, "don't stare, don't be creepy."

Carrie: Both of us had been upgraded to United first, so the flight attendant started to collect our beverage orders before take off (Newark to Albany is only a 30 minute flight). Randy, who was sitting diagonally across from me, and one row ahead, looked at the flight attendant and said...

Randy: 'Two shots of tequila please!"

Carrie: I immediately thought to myself, "who is this alcoholic!? It is 7am in the morning, does he seriously need tequila that badly at this hour!?"

Randy: After a couple of seconds I said 'just kidding'...I was hoping Carrie would get a laugh.

Carrie: Which I did in fact get a kick out of that, I thought, "oh this guy is pretty funny. That was smooth and well-played." (Even the flight attendant started to write down his tequila order.)

Randy: During the flight, I kept trying to look behind me over at Carrie but was worried again about being creepy. We finally landed and pulled up to the gate. It was taking an incredibly long time, more than 15 minutes, to open the door to de-plane. So I thought, "this is my opportunity." Both Carrie and I were standing in the aisle, and I turned to Carrie and said "the whole flight is 30 minutes, and it is taking that much time just to open the door." Carrie laughed and agreed. We introduced ourselves and talked a bit.

Carrie: They finally got the door of the airplane open and we said goodbye, not exchanging any contact information but we wished each other well. And I thought, "well, that was nice, but I guess that was it."

Randy: As I was walking up the jet bridge, I said to myself "there is no chance I'm leaving this airport without trying to get another chance to talk with Carrie" -- just wasn't going to happen.

Carrie: I let the rest of the folks from the row Randy was sitting in, exit before me, as any polite and thoughtful person should, so Randy ended up a bit ahead of me. I walked up the jet bridge and entered the terminal. I watched Randy stop, turn around, and look right at me with a big, warm smile on his face. My heart immediately started to beat faster, I thought to myself "oh my god, he is waiting for me. I think he wants to talk to me again."

Randy: She walked towards me and I said "I have never done this before, ever. But I know I will regret it for the rest of my life if I don't ask, can I call you sometime?"

Carrie: Clearly, I said, "no." Just kidding. I was so incredibly happy that he asked, I couldn't believe it. I thought to myself, "is this really happening? This sort of stuff only happens in the movies." It was really special! So of course, I gave him my phone number.

Randy: Then I asked Carrie, "can I take you to dinner when it works for you?"

Carrie: I had a ton of travel plans coming up, so I told him, "Yes, but it will likely be a couple of weeks before we can get together."

Randy: Although, I had to wait awhile before I could take her to dinner, I was patient. I fell in love with Carrie before we left the Airport.

Carrie & Randy: And the rest is history...

Happily Ever After!