An irate passenger made national news last week. She went absolutely ballistic over a delayed flight. Yelling at the top of her lungs at the poor hapless gate agent. What bothered me most was the lack of condemnation on the part of those reporting the incident.

Goodness people! Things happen. Weather gets severe, airplanes break, medical emergencies force unexpected landings, crew members get sick, out of control passengers cause delays...and the list goes on.

One of the greatest perks of working for an airline is flying for free. The only glitch is, you only get on flights with open seats. Hence the term "non-revenue." You may think you're going somewhere, but like I said, things happen.

My kids learned that early on. When they were seven and three, my parents lived near Orlando and we visited them often. They got used to watching one airplane after another pull away from the gate without us on it. But eventually, we always made it down there.

I remember one occasion I checked a flight that, miraculously, had sixty empty seats. I told the kids the night before that it was a "sure thing" we'd get on that flight. Silly Momma.

There was a little girl (I would guess around four years old) in the gate area sitting near us. She carried a Little Mermaid back pack and wore a Minnie Mouse T-shirt.

"I bet you're going to Disney World." A woman commented.

"Maybe, but we're non-revs."

"What does 'non-rev' mean?"

"It's bad." The little girl answered matter-of-factly. "It means we come to the airport but we barely ever go anywhere."

I had to laugh. Poor little thing. But at least this time she would be going to Disney World. Or so I thought. But, things happen.

Hordes of people came out of nowhere, a flight had cancelled and they were all being re-booked on our "sure thing" flight.

Caitlin and Dane were stunned. "But, Momma," they wailed, "you said it was a 'sure thing!'"

I vowed to never say something that ignorant again. There is no such thing as a "sure thing," not even with paying passengers.

I fell back on my usual, "But, like I've told you before, everything happens for a reason."

I'm happy to say we all got on the very next flight.

The following week I ran into a flight attendant who was on the flight we did NOT get on. Turns out that flight was a nightmare, an emergency landing followed by hours of sitting on the tarmac. She didn't get to Orlando until the following day.

From that time on I used that example, "You know how I'm always telling you things happen for a reason? Remember that nightmarish flight God saved us from? You guys were frolicking in the pool while those poor people were stuck out on the runway of our "sure thing" flight.

All because, things happen.