On May 19, 2025, I had the pleasure of meeting two football players from North Carolina Central University in the Philadelphia, PA airport as we were all headed back to Raleigh, NC. To protect their privacy, I will use only the initials of their first names – L and N.

They politely asked if they could sit beside me in the airport and I said yes, that I would welcome strong young men sitting beside me. In today’s world, you never know what might happen, especially at an airport, and I felt very protected sitting with the two of them. They told me they were football players, where they played and we had a very enjoyable conversation.

They were both so kind to me and very polite. You can tell they were raised properly, they referred to me often as “ma’am.” For context, I am in my late 50’s, so that was appropriate. We talked about our travels and they shared they had visited their girlfriends recently. They spoke of their girlfriends with love and respect and told me the story of how they all met. We had over an hour to go before we boarded our flight, and that time flew by as we all enjoyed chatting. We even got a selfie before we boarded. They assisted me in putting my bag in the overhead bin when I boarded and again when we deplaned. They invited me to a football game and I happily accepted their invitation.

You might think that was the end of our story – but it wasn’t. After we landed, I discovered my ride was not able to pick me up from the airport. I asked L and N if they had driven to the airport and they said no, L’s Mom was picking them up and they asked me if anything was wrong. I told them about my ride not being able to pick me up and L said, “let me make a phone call.” After a few minutes he said, “we got you!” and his sweet Mom picked all of us up and drove me back to my house.

L and N are outstanding young men – articulate, intelligent, funny, kind and showed tremendous compassion to me – a complete stranger. I will certainly never forget this experience and I’ve already repeated it several times. I also wrote a letter to their Head Coach detailing our time together. I am very grateful for their presence and assistance to me that day.

I’ve read Sunny Skyz for years and now is the time for me to share my story.