Sheila Payton barrels down I-85 in her silver Chevrolet Sonic.

Her daughter Britney just texted four words that sent her scrambling: "On the Plane Train."

Sheila is only days away from a moment she's dreamed of for decades.

"When the doctor said it was a girl," she says, "I immediately started praying for her mate. … And I remember as she started to grow and started to date and everything, I just kept praying."

Today, Sheila's home is full of invitations, goody bags and gifts. Her cell phone is chirping with calls and texts. And her mind is racing.

This weekend, Britney is marrying her fiancé, Philip. And their flight from Columbus, Ohio, just arrived.

More than 200 people are coming to the wedding, but Sheila can't stop thinking about the one person who won't be there.

Wendell, her husband of 27 years, died of a heart attack in March.

Sheila's trying to hold it together, but she's been tearing up all week.

She knows Wendell won't walk their daughter down the aisle.

He won't dance with her at the reception.

He won't see Britney wear the wedding dress she picked out after shopping at stores in three states.

This bittersweet blend of joy and heartache is all too common at the world's busiest airport, where moments of love and loss are carried like precious cargo and unwieldy baggage.

Knowing her daughter is doing what Wendell wanted helps Sheila keep going.

"One thing I know that he would want her to do is live," she says. "This is her life, a new chapter."

As Sheila waits for Britney and Philip to pick up their luggage, she prepares herself for the first thing she knows Britney will say ("I'm hungry") and the food she'll want to go out to eat (Italian).

Circling the airport, she thinks about how amazing her only daughter is.

How, at age 2, she toted a mini-suitcase and took her first flight alone to visit an aunt in Arizona.

How she's been fearless and loved traveling ever since.

How her straight A's got her a full ride from Spelman College.

How she joined the military to pay for medical school so her family wouldn't have to.

At the curb near baggage claim, Sheila squeals when she sees Britney and Philip coming.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Look at my babies!" she says, shouting so loudly about the wedding that strangers waiting nearby congratulate them.

Britney quickly tosses her luggage in the trunk and says she's ready to go.

She tells her mom she's starving, and that she wants to get Italian food.

Sheila smiles knowingly, hands Philip the car keys and gets into the back seat.