The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Performance in airport atrium a love note for reuniting couple
A woman who has waited a year for her husband to get a visa to join her in the United States organized a group performance at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to mark their reunion.
Jon Eastwood’s homecoming was delayed a day after his flight from New York was canceled amid bad weather. But the “flash mob”-style performance that wife Lindsey organized went on anyway in the domestic terminal atrium Friday, with Jon watching a livestream video on his phone at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Jon, from Wales, and Lindsey, a 31-year-old Alabama lawyer, got married in July 2017 and shortly thereafter applied for a visa for him to relocate to the United States.
It took until mid-July 2018 for the visa to be approved, according to Lindsey, who practices estate planning law in Birmingham.
“We’ve been through a really long journey with this immigration situation,” which she said has been an expensive process. “Neither of us anticipated how long this was going to take.”
They’ve been in a long-distance relationship traveling across the Atlantic to visit and had not seen each other since early May.
“It’s just been awful. I think the hardest part is just not knowing when it’s going to get approved, not knowing when you’re going to see your husband,” Lindsey said. “It should not be this difficult . ... This process just sucks for everyone, and I just hate that we had to go through it.”
In anticipation of Jon’s arrival, Lindsey hired singers and a choreographer with dancers to do a surprise airport performance of a mash-up of songs: “Coming to America,” “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),” “At Last,” “I Knew You Were Waiting,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Welcome Home.”
Even though Lindsey and Jon had to wait for their in-person reunion, the virtual version showed how much closer they were to their special moment, and some unsuspecting travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson were able to witness some musical magic themselves.
Their story does have a happy ending. Jon arrived in Atlanta on Saturday, and by that afternoon the couple were on their way to their future home in Alabama.