I’m not sure if everyone would agree with me but it was my experience that of all the lessons that I received from my parents/elders, there are a handful that made a larger impression. I recall when I was about 12 years old driving down our street (good ol’ Goodfellow Rd), with Dad. Pete (one of our neighbors and Dad’s co-workers) waved, so Dad pulled over. They began to talk shop. I didn’t have an iPhone to distract me so I did what most kids did and listened in on the conversation. The gist of the convo was that someone at work dropped the ball and Dad was left high and dry. Pete seemed to be more upset about the circumstance than Dad was and Pete pointed that out.
Dad responded in a way that taught me more about dealing with the variables of life than probably any conversation we ever had. He said something to the effect of, “ what’s the point of getting pissed off about it, it happened, there’s nothing we can do about it now. being mad won’t change anything.”
I’ve used that attitude, transformed and built upon it, molded into a greater philosophy with Ash’s help so that when life throws a curve at you, you have a better than 40 percent chance of handling it successfully.
May 11, 2014, American Airlines sent me a text saying that our flight is going to be delayed an hour which will most certainly cause us to miss our connecting flight, turning our already long day of travel into an even longer day with now the variable of stress and uncertainty surrounding the three of us getting onto new flights with seats next to each other.
Our perfectly planned itinerary wadded up like a piece of paper that was torn incorrectly out of a spiral notebook and tossed into a wastebasket without ever getting the chance to be useful. No doodles were scribbled upon it, no pictures drawn or notes taken. ROUND FILE!
BUT WAIT!
A change of plans, American Airlines threw a second curve at us, instead of the original arrival gate C14 there had been a change. In a somewhat cruel twist, the airline gave us a glimmer of hope that we would be able to catch our connecting. We were now docking at A17 and only needed to get to A9. We were positioned in the front of the plane and conceived a plane that would give us the best opportunity for success. I would carry Pierce and Ash would wear the backpack, carry her purse and P’s little bag. IF the connecting had been in a different terminal, there would’ve been NO shot but only eight gates away??? Could we do it???
It appeared my appetite for running would prove useful. We filed off the plane and I excused myself around an elderly couple. I shot out of that jet way like a cannonball with a 41 pound/41.5 inch long three year old plastered to the front. I got P jacked up while we were waiting our turn, I told him, “Pierce and Daddy are going to get to run to the next plane, I told him it was going to be just like Daddy’s race!”
He responded the way I expected “Why Daddy?”
I said, “Because Mijo, it’ll be fun!” We’re going to race Mommy!”
I’m not a sprinter, the challenging aspect of being a marathoner is how tired your legs get after 20 miles. I’m never out of breath, at a nine minute pace, I can have a conversation with anyone through out a race without a problem.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t as simple as being ONLY eight gates apart. There was a connecting corridor under construction that had to be navigated. The scene set up like any romance movie that has the guy running to catch his next flight so that he can stop his true love from marrying the jerk that she was engaged to. Instead of 80 feet, I’d guess the corridor and the eight gates were a good quarter mile apart. I held P tight, my legs moved furiously and my lungs burned in a way that they were not accustomed to, converting oxygen in to enough energy to get us to the A9 finish line.
WE MADE IT!
The plane was still there, we could see it! Me, out of breath and Pierce saying through a smile and giggle that “Mommy can’t catch us!”, (poor Mommy.)
As my lungs expanded and collapsed more rapidly than they had in quite some time, the airline attendant, looked at me in a way that my Theatre teacher looked at me after an audition, before she told me that your effort was incredible but it wasn’t meant to be. They had pulled the bridge away and shut the door. There was NO WAY that they could re-open it. After hearing the news, I looked back down the hall in time to see Ash arrive, I gave her the same look that Mrs. Gaffney gave me when I didn’t get the part I wanted in Odd Couple, (for the record, I did get the parts I wanted in every other play that I auditioned for and Mrs. G made the right call in Odd Couple, Josh was a great Oscar.)
They were able to get Ash and I on a flight that left in one hour and after they realized that plan was broke, it was decided that P and I would take those two seats and Mommy would go solo on a flight two and half hours later. Happy Mother’s Day Mommy! I found myself getting emotional as we said goodbye to Mommy. Pierce had no idea what was going on and he couldn’t have been more agreeable. He was the MVP that day. We found our seats and there was little drama on the four hour flight to SFO.
I had arranged a Happy Mother’s Day basket of wine and flowers to surprise Mommy as we arrived to our hotel suite. It wasn’t going to be the same surprise that I wanted to elicit because we weren’t all arriving together. Instead, I arranged for a driver to meet her at her gate, he held a sign that said, Happy Mother’s Day Ashleigh Hernandez!
I made a boo boo booking the flight on MD. OOPS! BUT, I think we succeeded in making it a memorable one. Ash arrived 90 minutes after we did. Pierce showed her around the suite and did the “TA-DAAA!” unveiling the basket of flowers. We hugged each other tight, it was as if we were wringing out a dirty cloth that we used to clean up the mess that a delayed flight had caused. So that we could begin to soak up a week full of fun an memories.
I did the “TA-DAA”, with the wine after Pierce went to bed. Ash and I recounted the long day sipping on Pinot Noir, while looking at the Golden Gate and the Rock. It could’ve been worse. It always can, there is always someone willing to trade for your problems.
My experiences are new to me, the lessons learned are probably not new to you. Most of the time, I'm just working out, what the Silver and Black Lining is.
We are exactly where we are supposed to be, when we're there.
No comments:
Post a Comment