The world may have shrunk significantly with the arrival of the internet and social media, but it's still big enough that when you're traveling, you never know who you might possibly meet, especially if you take a chance and put yourself out there.
While waiting for her delayed flight from D.C. to New York to take off after being held on the tarmac for hours, TikToker Caroline (@ygdunlap) did some work on her laptop and then, bored, decided to turn to her seatmate, an older man, for a polite conversation to pass the time.
This turned out to be much cooler than she expected as the two laughed, shared stories, talked about deeper subjects, and of course, shared snacks. And after they were forced to disembark the plane due to the delay, the pair even spent time together hanging out at the airport.
When they were finally able to re-board the plane, they started to talk about their families. Being in his 50s or 60s, the man shared photos with Caroline of his two sons, the older of whom had just gotten married.
She was surprised, however, when he showed her a picture of his younger son, with whom she'd had a short "situationship" right after she moved to Washington, DC, years beforehand.
Since the situationship did not end well, and was not ended by her, Caroline debated for a moment whether or not to tell the man that she knew his son. She eventually decided to tell him, though, and they shared an amazing laugh over the coincidence.
The man even wanted to take a picture with her and text it to his son before they parted ways, which she obliged.
Shortly after, the ex's reaction came via a blunt text to Caroline:
"Leave my dad alone."
You can watch the video here:
Some fellow TikTokers were alarmed that the apple could fall so far from the tree.
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But others had hope that Caroline would maintain some kind of relationship with her ex's dad.
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While the situationship had clearly been a situationship for a reason, that didn't stop the universe from uniting Caroline with the family in some other way.
A few hours of talking and a photo together might not lead to a lasting friendship, but it clearly had enough of an impact on two people that it was totally worth it for that flight to be delayed.
