Flying with a newborn is difficult, but dad Rubin Swift never expected to be stopped at the Frontier Airlines gate in Phoenix and told that he and his baby daughter Ru-Andria couldn’t even board the plane.
Rubin had discovered that he had a baby daughter in Arizona and that he had been granted custody.
The 43-year-old Cleveland, Ohio, dad packed his luggage and drove south to rescue his kid and take her home. He paid his first visit to his daughter and began connecting with her at Banner University Medical Center. He met Joy Ringhofer, a 78-year-old NICU volunteer, there.
Ru-Andria had been sent to the NICU shortly after birth as a preventative measure. Joy, who had recently been widowed, recognized Rubin as a devoted parent despite being put into an unexpected scenario.
He has three adult children from a previous marriage and four stepchildren with Tiffany, who was 32 at the time. Joy felt driven for some inexplicable reason to scribble down her phone number and give it to Rubin, startling him. She even volunteered to drive him to the airport the day before his flight. It came out that Ru-Andria couldn’t travel with Rubin since he wanted evidence of her age. Frontier Airlines requires infants to be at least seven days old before flying. Nevertheless, obtaining the necessary documents might take up to a week!
Rubin had no idea what to do as he raced into the massive airport barrier. He considered sleeping on the airport floor for many days until he could pick up her birth certificate.
“I was out of money, and the hospital told me that I wouldn’t be able to receive a birth certificate for seven days. I was afraid that if security spotted me sleeping with a baby at the airport, they’d take her away and charge me with negligence. “I was trapped.”
He contacted his wife, Tiffany, who was at a loss for words. They just didn’t have the funds to rent a car and go home or to secure a hotel room and wait it out. “I worried when he contacted me from the airport and said they weren’t going to let him travel unless he could acquire a birth certificate in four days… I didn’t want him to spend the night at the airport. “I was terrified since it appeared that we were out of choices.” Rubin thought about calling Joy, the NICU volunteer who had driven him to the airport with kindness and only shown him sympathy. He was at a loss for words and decided to telephone the older citizen. “I told him, ‘I’m taking you home with me,’ so stand there. There are many risks out there, but there are also many opportunities. I loved conversing with Rubin and assisting him with the baby at the hospital. “He was kind and friendly, and I could tell he had a nice heart.”
Rubin, a deli owner in Ohio, couldn’t understand Joy’s readiness to help him, a stranger, and Ru-Andria out of their situation.
“I’m black; she’s white.” I’m an outsider who grew up in the Bronx slums, and she’s a great-grandmother who recently lost her husband. Despite knowing virtually nothing about me, she took me in. Color didn’t bother her. She demonstrated that there is still compassion in this terrible world.
Rubin called his wife and told her how Joy, his angel, had gone above and beyond to assist him. She, too, was taken aback. But Rubin didn’t hesitate to accept Joy’s offer because he had liked her since the first time he met her. “Miss Joy was like an angel, and she’d formed a strong relationship with Ru-Andria. My daughter’s face would brighten up as she heard her voice. “I knew we’d be friends for life the moment she took us in.” The middle-aged father and the widowed senior citizen cared for Ru-Andria together and spoke for four days. Joy said that she had four children, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren at the time. They took Ru-Andria on walks, went grocery shopping, and even paid a visit to Joy’s late husband’s cemetery. “I could feel the grief on her face from losing her husband, so as we sat there with the baby in the grave, I said, “Hey, Charles, look—it’s your new granddaughter.” We enjoyed some amazing and moving moments. “Joy became a mother or grandmother figure to me after I lost my mother to cancer in 2007.” He couldn’t wait to see his wife and children when the birth certificate was finished and Rubin and Ru-Andria could finally return home. He knew he’d miss Joy, though. The two pledged to keep in touch and often visited over FaceTime, which brightened Joy’s days. “We simply knew that we’d always be in touch from that day forward.” We began as strangers and ended up being excellent friends. “Rubin is thankful to me, but I am also glad for the chance.” Rubin realizes that Joy could’ve simply turned him away. Instead, she opened her home and her heart to a stranger and his child, rescuing him from a potentially dangerous scenario.