Claustrophobia: fear of being closed in, not having an escape route, being trapped.

Life is full of surprises and boy was I surprised.! There are so many things happens in life that you can not explain with all the words you may have. Sometimes for one reason or another people become very vulnerable and do some unexplained things. Most people in one time or another became so vulnerable that they want to hold on the very first person they find and I became one of those very first person someone tried to hold on to. Let me explain my friends…

It was 5.10 in the morning when I was zooming through the empty 57th St, I was stopped by a passenger in front of Four Season Hotel between Park Ave and Madison Ave. Since I was driving kind of fast I really did not see her but I stopped my taxi about 50 ft from her because I thought I saw someone.

Sure enough I saw in my rear view mirror that a well dressed woman was running towards my car. So I tried to back up a little and she got in. She thanked me for picking her up. She seemed to be a very genuine, soft spoken, and beautiful woman in her mid 30s. She wanted to go to Lagaurdia Airport and I was very happy to get an airport job early in the morning. One thing surprised me that she did not have even a purse with her.

I started to ask her how she was doing.. and asked why she had no luggage with her. She told me,” I just had a 3 hours sleep in Four Season hotel and they charged me $800 dollars for it.” I almost had a heart attack hearing that. I was totally shocked and wanted to know how and why she did pay that much amount of money for only 3 hours of sleep. She told me that she came from Spain with her family and took a Flight to JFK Airport and had to change the flight to a connecting flight to go to her destination, Chicago.

But the problem started when she got in the smaller plane as she was a very sensitive, nervous and claustrophobic and she just walked away from the plane telling her husband and kids to go ahead and she would go the next day. So she took a cab from JFK around the midnight and came to Four Season hotel. The hotel charged her $800 dollars for the night. She slept about 3 hours and woke up to go to LGA Airport and would buy a ticket from the airport to go to Chicago no matter how much it takes.

It seemed that money was not a problem to her. I was telling her to see a doctor as Claustrophobia could and did make her life measurable . I was trying to comfort her and telling her all kinds of ways to make her calm down like count backwards from 0 to 100..breath slowly, use scented candle, listen soothing music etc.

So When I reached to LGA Airport , that’s when she asked me which made this blog entry possible. She asked me if I could park the Cab in the parking lot and fly with her to Chicago. She told me that she would buy me a round trip ticket, pay for the parking and will give me another $500 dollar for the trouble. All she wants from me was that I just have to hold her tight during the takeoff and landing.

I could not believe my ears and I thought she was not serious because who would go that extent to get a company so that she could stay calm in the smaller plane. I felt so sad for her and her family. She paid me exactly double for the ride and told me to wait for her. It was early morning and there was no one on the drop off area so I decided to wait. She came back about 5 minutes later and told me to park my Taxi in the long term parking lot because there was ticket available since it was Saturday early morning. She told me that I should be back by 11 o’clock in the morning. That’s when I realized that she was serious.

I just could not think that someone would spend more than $1250 (including $500 dollars and parking fee) just for the convenience of having someone next to her so that he gets comfort. I wanted to help but I just could not get the idea of spending so much money for me. I knew that $500 dollar would help me a lot and I would still be able to work for 5 hours…but I felt that was not right as money does not grow on the tree. If situation was different that I had enough money to pay my bills…I would definitely go with her just to help her and she would not have to pay me.

So I said no..I thanked her and told her that it was not right thing to do even though she was the one who wanted to spend the money. I told her that that money will help her to pay the bill.

I hold her hand and reassured her that it would be alright and she should get some professional help. She finally accepted that she would try to stay calm inside the airport. Then she asked me if she could get a hug from me. I just opened my big arm and she came inside my arm and hold me tight..I hold her tight for about a minute and then let her go. She kissed on my chick and thanked me for being so nice and accommodating.

Someone once said..”.Truth is stranger than fiction..I say,” Life is stranger than fiction.”