But there is one passenger I will never forget. Two years later, she impacted my life in ways I could not have predicted.

Allow me to paint a picture of my life first. My basement flat was just what I expected for $600 per month in the city.

But it was all I could afford at 26, after everything that had happened.

The kitchen counter served as both my desk, workspace, and dining table. A little twin bed occupied one corner, with the metal frame evident where the linens had come pulled loose.

I looked at the stack of unpaid invoices on my fold-out table.

I grabbed my phone, fingers lingering over Mom’s number out of habit, before remembering. Six months. It had been six months since I had had someone to call.

The irony was not lost on me. BREATHING. That’s how this entire story began on that fateful journey.

“Miss, please! Someone help her!” A loud shriek echoed along the aisle.

I was performing my routine checks in business class when I heard a man’s voice filled with panic. Three seats forward, an old woman clutched her throat, her face becoming an unsettling shade of crimson.

“She’s choking!” Another passenger shouted, half-rising from his seat.

“Ma’am, I’m here to help. Can you breathe at all?” I asked the lady.

I put my arms around her torso, finding the point just above her navel, and pushed up with everything I had. Nothing. Again. Nothing. The third time, I heard a little gasp.

A chunk of chicken flew across the aisle, landing on a man’s newspaper.

When she finally looked up at me, her eyes were teary yet warm. She squeezed my hand tightly.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I’ll never forget this. I’m Mrs. Peterson, and you just saved my life.”

When the terrible times hit, it’s easy to forget about the happy times. Everything else faded into the background once Mom was diagnosed. I resigned from my work as a flight attendant to care for her.

We sold everything—my car, Grandpa’s suburban house, and even Mom’s art collection.

“You don’t have to do this, Evie,” Mom argued as I handed her the resignation letter to read. “I can manage.”

“Like you managed when I was sick with pneumonia in third grade? Or when I broke my arm in high school?” I kissed her forehead. “Let me take care of you for once.”

The last painting to depart was her favorite, a watercolor she’d done of me sitting by our kitchen window, drawing two birds making a nest in the maple tree.

An unidentified bidder offered us a fortune, much above our expectations. Mom couldn’t believe her luck.

Three weeks later, she was gone. The hospital room was quiet, save for the slow beep of monitors.

Time slid gone like grains of sand. On Christmas Eve, I found myself alone in my basement, watching shadows dance on the wall from passing car headlights.

After Mom d.i.e.d, I couldn’t take the pitying looks, awkward conversations, and well-intended but cruel questions about how I was “holding up.”

But suddenly, a loud knock on my door startled me.

I approached warily, gazing through the peephole to see a man in an exquisite suit holding a gift box tied with a lovely bow.

“Miss Evie? I have a delivery for you.”

I opened the door with a crack while keeping the chain on. “A gift? For me?”

“There’s an invitation too. I assure you, everything will make sense soon.”

But what was beneath made my heart stop: Mom’s final painting. There I was, caught in time by our old kitchen window, drawing birds on a spring morning.

The man looked up. “You’ll get your answers, don’t worry. My boss would like to meet you. Do you accept the invitation?”

“Now, if you’re willing. The car is waiting.”

The car came up to a home that was like something out of a holiday movie, complete with dazzling lights and wreaths in every window.

Mrs. Peterson appeared inside, rising from an armchair – the same woman I had saved on that trip two years before.

“I saw your mother’s work featured in a local art gallery’s online post,” she explained. “When I saw the painting of you, I knew I had to have it. Something about the way you were capturing those birds…” She trailed off, her eyes growing distant. “It reminded me so much of my daughter.”

“How did you find me?” I whispered.

“I have my ways,” she said with a small smile. “I contacted the hospital and convinced them to share your address, given the circumstances. I wanted to make sure you were taken care of, even if I couldn’t save your mother.”

“I lost my daughter last year to c.a.n.c.e.r. She was about your age.” She touched the frame of the painting gently. “When I saw this listed online — a mother’s last artwork being sold to pay for her treatment — I knew I had to help. Even if I was too late.”

“Spend Christmas with me,” she said finally. “No one should be alone on Christmas!”

This Christmas, I found a family again. And, though nothing could fill the void left by my mother’s absence, maybe with Mrs. Peterson’s aid, I could build a new home… one that respected the past while offering me hope for the future.