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

(CNN) — Maggie Musgrave was sitting, alone, in Miami Worldwide Airport, crying.

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

Maggie, then 28, was on her method dwelling to Washington DC after spending the weekend in Florida at her bachelorette get together. Whereas she was grateful to her pals 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 marriage ceremony was an enormous mistake.

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

“I used to be like, ‘Oh gosh, I may actually use a pet from this canine,'” Maggie remembers. She greeted the animal enthusiastically, giving him a stomach rub.

Proper behind the canine was a lady — seemingly his proprietor — speeding as much as apologize.

“Oh hello, I am sorry!” mentioned the stranger.

“No it is positive, it is positive,” mentioned Maggie, nonetheless petting the canine, who was now licking her hand fortunately.

“I am Cindy,” mentioned the girl. “He is 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” films. Maggie advised 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 simple rapport. Maggie and Cindy have been the identical age, each canine lovers, each movie followers. And so they have been each ready for a similar grounded flight again dwelling to Washington DC.

“We hit it off instantly,” Cindy tells CNN Journey in the present day.

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 nervous that discovering one thing new would not be straightforward. She’d earned her Grasp’s diploma in the midst of the recession, and jobs nonetheless felt sparse.

“I really had this desperation — ‘What’s my future going to appear like?'” Cindy remembers.

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 after I approached to seize Deniro,” she remembers — however did not press for particulars on what was occurring.

“I didn’t wish to appear too intrusive. I figured if we discuss it should get her thoughts off of issues,” Cindy remembers.

Certain sufficient, Maggie discovered chatting to Cindy, who was open, pleasant and exuded kindness, a welcome distraction from her worries concerning the upcoming marriage 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 advised her she would possibly have the ability to assist Cindy begin over. She labored as a recruiter at a staffing company — discovering folks the right function was her job.

The 2 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 after they have been dwelling in DC.

“I simply met this actually great lady,” Cindy advised her boyfriend when he picked her up at Ronald Reagan Nationwide Airport.

Maggie additionally gushed about her new good friend to her then-fiancé, though she overlooked the context.

“I didn’t inform him that I used to be crying, after I met her, about not desirous to marry him.”

Rising friendship

Again 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 additionally hit it off,” remembers Cindy.

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

Their rapport, says Maggie, felt “tremendous pure.”

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

“When the canine related and we realized how shut we dwell to one another in DC, that solely 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 yr — and in larger methods — they each share the identical Catholic religion, for instance.

“Maggie’s vitality was similar to my vitality,” provides Cindy. “We had plenty of widespread pursuits and nonetheless have — we each aligned in our political ideas and we each aligned on the kinds of films we appreciated.

“And naturally the pet life. We by no means discovered one thing to not speak about. She’s very extroverted. I am extroverted. So it simply labored out.”

Maggie and Cindy agreed to fulfill once more.

Time handed, and these meet-ups grew to become increasingly more frequent.

Maggie was dedicated to serving to Cindy discover a new job. At any time when one thing got here up that might be appropriate, she’d ahead it Cindy’s method.

Regardless of her reservations, Maggie went by means of along with her marriage ceremony. Later down the road, she and her husband separated. Cindy supported Maggie all through.

“I feel 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 each methods.

“We may very a lot discuss to one another truthfully.”

Turning into nearer

A couple of yr after assembly Cindy on the airport, Maggie began working as an inhouse recruiter. A job got here up at her firm that she thought Cindy can be excellent for, and he or she recommended her good friend apply.

To Cindy and Maggie’s mutual delight, Cindy acquired the job. The 2 ladies grew to become work colleagues, and have been in a position to spend much more time collectively.

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

“Cindy really threw me a party one yr on the workplace,” remembers Maggie. “It was pumpkin themed.”

In return, Maggie baked Cindy a birthday carrot cake, figuring out it was her good friend’s favourite. Maggie navigated the DC Metro on a freezing day in February, cake in hand, to shock Cindy on the workplace.

Maggie and Cindy’s lives grew to become increasingly more intertwined, with Maggie changing into shut with lots of Cindy’s pals.

“Her vitality is infectious,” says Cindy. “Each one in all my pals, all of them get on with Maggie and so they love her.”

After her divorce, Maggie began courting once more. When she was vetting potential companions, she’d take the boys on double dates with Cindy and Cindy’s boyfriend.

Deniro and Scarlett O’Hara additionally continued having fun with one another’s firm, and Maggie and Cindy would typically canine sit for one another.

When Cindy acquired engaged in 2015, there was “no query” that Maggie can be amongst her bridesmaids. By then, the stranger she’d met on the airport was one in all her closest pals.

“I needed an important and supportive folks in my life to be my bridesmaids. The individuals who made me really feel proud about myself,” says Cindy. “Maggie was one in all them, since she had not solely turn into such a very good good friend through the years, however was additionally the explanation for my profession and success.”

“I used to be ecstatic to be Cindy’s bridesmaid,” remembers Maggie. “Her pals adore her and being the most recent good friend to the group was humbling and exquisite.”

Enduring friendship

At present, Maggie and Cindy not work collectively, and Maggie not lives in DC.

However whereas the 2 ladies do not see each other as typically as they used to, their friendship stays robust. At any time when Maggie and Cindy reunite, they really feel like no time has handed. And after they’re aside, they root for one another from afar.

“Regardless of the place she is, I like the concept we’re there — we’re all the time going be there,” says Maggie. “And I like that, it is easy.”

Cindy nonetheless lives in DC, now along with her husband and her younger daughter. Maggie was there at Cindy’s child bathe, to assist her welcome her baby. At present, Cindy loves her job, and credit her present profession success to Maggie.

“Who is aware of the place I might be in the present day — 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 just lately, she moved to Los Angeles. She’s at present on a six-month sabbatical touring along with her accomplice in his camper van, visiting American ski resorts.

“It’s attention-grabbing, as a result of I assumed my life was going to take a very totally different trajectory,” says Maggie, reflecting on assembly Cindy on the eve of her marriage.

“I did not hold the husband, stored the good friend,” she provides, laughing.

“My life has been persistently 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 each handed away, however Maggie and Cindy supported one another by means of these losses, and luxuriate in sharing recollections of their canine with one another. And so they nonetheless credit score Deniro for bringing them collectively within the first place.

Each Maggie and Cindy say their random airport assembly and subsequent enduring friendship taught them the significance of training openness, particularly when touring.

“You by no means understand how that’s going to vary your life, or how that is going to end up,” says Cindy. “I nonetheless suppose it is loopy that one in all my closest pals 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 fulfill anybody new.”

The 2 additionally stress the significance of following up should you meet a possible good friend in your travels.

“Taking the initiative after, should you really feel that connection,” says Maggie. “It does not matter what age you’re — do not be embarrassed. E mail that particular person again, be excited, say sure.”

Whereas Maggie and Cindy have shared many particular recollections over their decade of friendship, they’ve by no means traveled collectively, and have not sat aspect by aspect in an airport since they first met within the Miami Worldwide Airport departures corridor 12 years in the past. They each say they’d like to go on an journey collectively someday.

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

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

This text was initially revealed by cnn.com. Learn the authentic article right here.