Craig and I were married November 15, 1986. We decided that with the holidays so near that we would wait to go on our honeymoon in January. Craig surprised me with a trip to Puerto Vallarta Mexico. This would be my first trip out of the U.S. We had so many wonderful memories – Craig always jokes, 7 days of rain & no TV….. In between the rain we did explore this beautiful place. We stayed at the Pelicanos. On our way to check out the downtown we passed the Hilton. Craig and I checked it out and discovered it had a pool with a swim up bar. This would be a place we would spend some time at before we left for back home- it was pretty upscale! On the last day we stopped at one last little shop as we made our way to the airport. Craig wanted to use up the last of our exchanged money – besides Craig has more fun harassing the venders for a better price. As he was laughing and joking with the shop owner on a marble chess set, I was mentally preparing for our long journey home. I was staring out the shop window at the busy four lanes of cars, trucks & buses. I focused on this one particular “chicken” bus, an old school bus for the locals to get around. It was a long ways off but I focused on this one guy as he stood up and was making his way down the bus aisle. I’m sure he was a hard working guy just doing his usual routine after a long day of work. I watched him make his way down those bus steps and right into the windshield of a car in the lane next to the bus. It happened so fast. I screamed- and out the door Craig ran. He bent down to a young man- blood coming out of nose, eyes and ears. Craig assured him he was ok and that he was going to get help. He yelled to two nearby women tourists to help him. He had them hold his head to make him comfortable and to keep telling him that help was on the way. Craig ran everywhere trying to get help- he even ran back to our hotel- no one would help. Even getting them to hang up the phone on unimportant conversations was impossible. He made his way back to see two guys pick him the man up under his arms and throw him into the back of a car. Craig tried so hard. It was really a tragic ending to such a beautiful week. By the way, the hospital was across the street- makes you appreciate the good ole USA. I felt so bad for Craig- he has such a big heart and this was such an unfinished ending. Life is so precious.
Two years later Craig and I returned to Puerto Vallarta for an all-expense paid business trip. It was kind of crazy that we ended up going back there so soon. We were 6 months pregnant with Allie <3. To our surprise we stayed at the fancy Hilton that we had checked out on our honeymoon- this was exciting! We had packed a lot of waters and food to bring with- we knew it was a good idea from just being there 2 years prior. We had a wonderful week in the sun. On the last day we packed up and headed down by the pool waiting for the shuttle for the airport. Craig & I started talking to an older couple sitting right by us. Craig whispered to me, they look pretty pale, they must have just got here… let’s give them all of our extra food and waters for their week. We opened up our bag and gave them everything – the couple was so appreciative. They asked us if we had ever been here before. We told them we were here for our honeymoon just two years earlier. They asked if we had stayed at the Hilton and we told them no, we had stayed at the Pelicanos. They said oh… they were here two years ago too but had stayed there at the Hilton. There was a long pause and the woman looked down and said it was the saddest thing, two years prior this frantic young man was running around trying desperately to get help for a man that was hit by a car and had asked her and her friend to help him by holding his head and comforting him as he tried to get help. Craig and I could not believe this – Craig said that was me. Wow- in total disbelief and amazement we asked where they were from- Pennsylvania. How amazing is God to give an ending to such a story. I’m so thankful for angels like Craig and this woman- I know that they were blessed.
