After traveling halfway around the world to be there when his son was born, Sergeant Seth Craven’s flight from Philadelphia was cancelled because of storms. He had been in Afghanistan serving with the West Virginia National Guard and didn’t want to miss his wife’s scheduled c-section, but the next morning his flight had maintenance issues, which led to more and more delays.
Because of the storms, there were no rental cars available at the airport and the next flight to Charleston, West Virginia wasn’t until the next morning, so he would’ve missed it all. But word of his situation got around among fellow passengers and eventually Charlene Vickers heard about it. She had a car at the airport and was also heading to Charleston on a deadline, so she offered Craven - a total stranger - a ride.
He accepted and didn’t even wait for his suitcase, riding shotgun on the eight hour drive while two of Vickers’ coworkers were in the back. They made it in time and baby boy Cooper was born the next morning. "If it wasn't for Charlene I never would have made it," Craven says. "All she wanted in return was pictures of the baby."