While fights on planes have grow to be all too common — especially between singletons and families with young children — one local mom recently learned that the skies can still be friendly.
Garden City, Recent York native Kelly Levine, 32, was anxious about traveling together with her 5-month old daughter, Romey, to Mexico for a vacation. She frightened about keeping the tot occupied on the long flight. But, on the 5-hour return trip from Cabo San Lucas to Newark, a fellow passenger performed deed that’s gone viral.
Meegan Rubin, 49, a Villanova, Pennsylvania-based entrepreneur, was sitting within the aisle seat across from Levine, her husband Jake and Romey. Rubin was crocheting to clam her nerves on the flight, and little Romey was captivated watching her.
“She was just watching her, mesmerized,” Levine, an actual estate agent, said of the free in-flight entertainment.
Rubin, who learned how you can crochet in the course of the pandemic, enjoyed having an audience.
“The newborn was so cute and watching me all the flight, wide-eyed my hands moving,” she told The Post.
Rubin had began the flight working on a sweater vest, but, with an hour left within the air, she decided she needed to make something for Romey.
“The challenge was to get it done before the flight was over,” she said.
It typically takes her two hours to make a baby hat, but, working feverishly within the air, she accomplished the impromptu project in only an hour.
Just after the plane touched down in Newark, she presented Levine with an oatmeal-colored, pint-sized, Italian wool beanie punctuated with a cheery pom-pom.
“We didn’t know she was working on it,” said Levine, who was so moved by Rubin’s kindness that she shared the story on TikTok. The post, which features photos of her cradling Romey as Rubin crochets next to her, has amassed greater than 7 million views since she put it up on Sunday.
“The good thing happened on our babies [sic] flight,” Levine captioned the video.
Within the post, she tagged Rubin’s small business, Crochet Obey, which sells handbags, tops, pet accessories and the like, and she or he’s been flooded with inquiries.
This isn’t the primary time Rubin has made a present for somebody she’s just met. Through the years, she’s crafted items for waiters and Uber drivers.
“I actually have this thing where every time I’m traveling, I prefer to crochet. I all the time make little tokens of appreciation for strangers,” Rubin said, adding that she’s “never been flagged” by TSA for bringing her hooks on a flight because they’ve rounded edges.
Rubin and Levine exchanged numbers and have grow to be fast friends, and Levine said she now feels optimistic, not anxious, about taking trips with Romey.
“You hear about mothers who’re coming onto planes with gift cards saying ‘sorry to your troubles,’ when their kids are crying on flights. Everyone prepares to clarify or apologize, so for somebody to not only be so kind and accommodating, but additionally generous, made us feel so significantly better about traveling in the long run,” Levine said.
“You never know who you’re going to sit down next to. She was an angel.”