She was crying alone at an airport. Then she met her future best friend

(Act Daily News) — Maggie Musgrave was sitting, alone, in Miami International Airport, crying.

It was a Sunday night in summer season 2011. Thunderstorms have been raging over Miami, and the airport departure space was getting more and more crowded, with stranded vacationers preventing for seats as aircraft after aircraft was grounded.

Maggie, then 28, was on her means house to Washington DC after spending the weekend in Florida at her bachelorette get together. While she was grateful to her associates for organizing a enjoyable few days’ celebrations, now the hangover was kicking in and one thing worse was lingering beneath: Maggie had a sinking feeling that her upcoming wedding ceremony was an enormous mistake.

As she wiped away tears, Maggie heard the sound of barking. She regarded as much as see an excitable canine lapping at her knees.

“I was like, ‘Oh gosh, I could really use a pet from this dog,'” Maggie recollects. She greeted the animal enthusiastically, giving him a stomach rub.

Right behind the canine was a girl — seemingly his proprietor — speeding as much as apologize.

“Oh hi, I’m sorry!” mentioned the stranger.

“No it’s fine, it’s fine,” mentioned Maggie, nonetheless petting the canine, who was now licking her hand fortunately.

“I’m Cindy,” mentioned the girl. “He’s Deniro,” she added, gesturing to her canine.

“Like Robert?” requested Maggie.

Cindy defined that sure, her canine was named for actor Robert De Niro – she’d grown up loving “The Godfather” motion pictures. Maggie informed Cindy she additionally had a canine with a cinematic namesake: Scarlett O’Hara, after the protagonist of “Gone With the Wind.”

Instantaneously, the 2 ladies established a straightforward rapport. Maggie and Cindy have been the identical age, each canine lovers, each movie followers. And they have been each ready for a similar grounded flight again house to Washington DC.

“We hit it off immediately,” Cindy tells Act Daily News Travel at the moment.

When Cindy crossed paths with Maggie on the airport, she was additionally questioning a few of her life selections. Cindy was working a job she hated, determined to depart however anxious that discovering one thing new would not be straightforward. She’d earned her Master’s diploma in the midst of the recession, and jobs nonetheless felt sparse.

“I actually had this desperation — ‘What’s my future going to look like?'” Cindy recollects.

Maggie and Cindy chatted as they waited for his or her flight, each ladies discovering solace in each other’s firm.

Cindy had observed Maggie’s tears — “she collected herself when I approached to grab Deniro,” she recollects — however did not press for particulars on what was happening.

“I did not want to seem too intrusive. I figured if we talk it will get her mind off of things,” Cindy recollects.

Sure sufficient, Maggie discovered chatting to Cindy, who was open, pleasant and exuded kindness, a welcome distraction from her worries in regards to the upcoming wedding ceremony. Plus, Deniro the canine was charming and candy, providing consolation and cuddles.

And when Cindy talked about the problems along with her job, Maggie informed her she may be capable to assist Cindy begin over. She labored as a recruiter at a staffing company — discovering individuals the proper position was her job.

The two ladies spent over an hour deep in dialog. And when the flight was finally known as, they swapped particulars — promising to get again in contact once they have been house in DC.

“I just met this really wonderful girl,” Cindy informed her boyfriend when he picked her up at Ronald Reagan National Airport.

Maggie additionally gushed about her new pal to her then-fiancé, though she not noted the context.

“I did not tell him that I was crying, when I met her, about not wanting to marry him.”

Growing friendship

Back in DC, Maggie and Cindy began messaging forwards and backwards. They organized to reunite the next week, canine in tow.

“We met up for lunch with our pups, who also hit it off,” recollects Cindy.

Chatting over Lebanese meals, the 2 ladies picked up the place they’d left off on the airport.

Their rapport, says Maggie, felt “super natural.”

As the lunch stretched on, the 2 solely grew extra snug in each other’s presence. And Deniro and Scarlett O’Hara adopted swimsuit.

“When the dogs connected and we realized how close we live to each other in DC, that only strengthened it,” says Maggie.

Maggie and Cindy discovered they have been alike in small methods — they each love fall, calling the season the place the leaves flip auburn their favourite of 12 months — and in greater methods — they each share the identical Catholic religion, for instance.

“Maggie’s energy was very similar to my energy,” provides Cindy. “We had a lot of common interests and still have — we both aligned in our political thoughts and we both aligned on the types of movies we liked.

“And in fact the pet life. We by no means discovered one thing to not discuss. She’s very extroverted. I’m extroverted. So it simply labored out.”

Maggie and Cindy agreed to meet again.

Time passed, and these meet-ups became more and more frequent.

Maggie was committed to helping Cindy find a new job. Whenever something came up that could be suitable, she’d forward it Cindy’s way.

Despite her reservations, Maggie went through with her wedding. Later down the line, she and her husband separated. Cindy supported Maggie throughout.

“I believe it helped down the highway that I used to be an outlet that did not know him, for Maggie to speak about her emotions and her conditions after she was married,” says Cindy. “I used to be there to lend an ear.”

Cindy calls their conversations a “judgment-free zone” and stresses this went both ways.

“We might very a lot discuss to one another actually.”

Becoming closer

About a year after meeting Cindy at the airport, Maggie started working as an inhouse recruiter. A job came up at her company that she thought Cindy would be perfect for, and she suggested her friend apply.

To Cindy and Maggie’s mutual delight, Cindy got the job. The two women became work colleagues, and were able to spend even more time together.

“We would have lunches and rejoice one another’s birthdays and have our espresso — possibly means too many throughout Pumpkin Spice Latte season,” says Cindy.

“Cindy truly threw me a party one 12 months on the workplace,” recalls Maggie. “It was pumpkin themed.”

In return, Maggie baked Cindy a birthday carrot cake, knowing it was her friend’s favorite. Maggie navigated the DC Metro on a freezing day in February, cake in hand, to surprise Cindy at the office.

Maggie and Cindy’s lives became more and more intertwined, with Maggie becoming close with many of Cindy’s friends.

“Her power is infectious,” says Cindy. “Every one among my associates, all of them get on with Maggie and so they love her.”

After her divorce, Maggie started dating again. When she was vetting prospective partners, she’d take the men on double dates with Cindy and Cindy’s boyfriend.

Deniro and Scarlett O’Hara also continued enjoying each other’s company, and Maggie and Cindy would often dog sit for each other.

When Cindy got engaged in 2015, there was “no query” that Maggie would be among her bridesmaids. By then, the stranger she’d met at the airport was one of her closest friends.

“I needed a very powerful and supportive individuals in my life to be my bridesmaids. The individuals who made me really feel proud about myself,” says Cindy. “Maggie was one among them, since she had not solely grow to be such pal over time, however was additionally the explanation for my profession and success.”

“I used to be ecstatic to be Cindy’s bridesmaid,” recalls Maggie. “Her associates adore her and being the most recent pal to the group was humbling and delightful.”

Enduring friendship

Today, Maggie and Cindy no longer work together, and Maggie no longer lives in DC.

But while the two women don’t see one another as often as they used to, their friendship remains strong. Whenever Maggie and Cindy reunite, they feel like no time has passed. And when they’re apart, they root for each other from afar.

“No matter the place she is, I like the concept that we’re there — we’re all the time going be there,” says Maggie. “And I like that, it is easy.”

Cindy still lives in DC, now with her husband and her young daughter. Maggie was there at Cindy’s baby shower, to help her welcome her child. Today, Cindy loves her job, and credits her current career success to Maggie.

“Who is aware of the place I might be at the moment — and if I might have had any of the identical sense of accomplishment — had we by no means crossed paths,” she says.

Since Maggie moved away from DC, she’s lived in Chicago, New York and Florida. Most recently, she moved to Los Angeles. She’s currently on a six-month sabbatical traveling with her partner in his camper van, visiting American ski resorts.

“It is attention-grabbing, as a result of I believed my life was going to take a very completely different trajectory,” says Maggie, reflecting on meeting Cindy on the eve of her marriage.

“I did not hold the husband, saved the pal,” she adds, laughing.

“My life has been constantly inconsistent however the issues that keep true are my genuine friendships, my ‘framily.’ I by no means really feel misplaced as a result of I’ve Cindy in my life.”

Sadly Deniro and Scarlett O’Hara have both passed away, but Maggie and Cindy supported each other through those losses, and enjoy sharing memories of their dogs with each other. And they still credit Deniro for bringing them together in the first place.

Both Maggie and Cindy say their random airport meeting and subsequent enduring friendship taught them the importance of practicing openness, especially when traveling.

“You by no means know the way that’s going to vary your life, or how that is going to end up,” says Cindy. “I nonetheless assume it is loopy that one among my closest associates was somebody I met on the airport.”

“Be weak,” agrees Maggie. “I used to be crying. I did not even know if I needed to satisfy anybody new.”

The two also stress the importance of following up if you meet a potential friend on your travels.

“Taking the initiative after, for those who really feel that connection,” says Maggie. “It does not matter what age you might be — do not be embarrassed. Email that particular person again, be excited, say sure.”

While Maggie and Cindy have shared many special memories over their decade of friendship, they’ve never traveled together, and haven’t sat side by side in an airport since they first met in the Miami International Airport departures hall 12 years ago. They both say they’d love to go on an adventure together one day.

“I do know Maggie and I’ll proceed to share recollections till we’re in our 90s or older,” says Cindy. “Perhaps we’ll journey the world collectively after we retire. See what different probability encounters we could come throughout whereas ready in airports.”

Top photograph of Cindy Jarrin, left, and Maggie Musgrave, proper, courtesy Brittany DeFrehn