“Do not boast about tomorrow; for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” ~Proverbs 27:1 (NAS)
How true, how true! This verse comes to pass on a regular basis for our family. As I write this post, I am on a west bound plane heading for San Francisco, CA at 6:00 in the morning after spending the night at a hotel in Denver. CO. This is certainly not what I had planned.
Yesterday, my fabulous “what-a-guy” husband graciously drove me to the airport to take an early morning flight to Monterey, CA via Phoenix, AZ. My ticket had me arriving in CA around noon. This would be a great. We arrived at the Oklahoma City airport only to find that my flight had been canceled. No problem. I was moved to another airline (after a two hour wait in line) to catch their afternoon flight to Monterey via Denver. I kissed my “prince charming” good-bye and proceeded through security. For some reason, I was chosen for the “pat down, take everything off” type search. There was a bright side, the security attendant thought my children were very cute (after looking at a photo in my wallet) and she mentioned that I was “skinny”. WOW! Positive affirmation while being “tortured”. She made my morning. I then settled down for a five hour wait for my flight. Fortunately, DSL was available so I was able to make good use of my time and didn’t go hungry thanks to a complimentary food voucher. Quiet time alone is not a bad thing once in awhile, so I found the wait enjoyable.
Just as it was time to board my flight, it was discovered that there was a problem with the hydraulics on the plane and repair was in order. This would require a mechanic to fly in from San Francisco and the parts to come in from Chicago. This did not sound very encouraging when it came to making my connection through Denver. The Lord was merciful and lead me to someone who could get me on another airline leaving somewhat soon to make it to Denver “just in time to make my connection.” Wahoo! I did have a “Plan B” though, Brent was going to come to OKC and stay with me in a hotel and put me on an early flight out. This could have been so much fun. I stressed this to the clerk and she assured me that her plan could get me to CA that day. Well, as God would have it, my flight was late into Denver and the flight leaving Denver was very punctual. UGH! So that is how I ended up spending the night at the Radisson Hotel, courtesy of United Airlines. So not my first plan, but a good one in light of the fact I could have had to stay in the airport terminal instead. I was told that usually passengers are not given a hotel in instances when multiple airlines and flight mix ups are involved. I was blessed. Thank you God.
I made it to the hotel around 8:00PM (9:00PM OK time) and was looking forward to going to sleep and getting lots of rest. Imagine my surprise when I figured out that I had to get up at 3:15AM to catch the shuttle back to the airport to make my flight! I actually accused the bell captain of joking when he said my flight required me catching the hotels 4:00AM shuttled. I consider myself blessed to have been able to sleep for five hours in a comfortable bed and have had the opportunity to “freshen up” thanks to a complimentary hotel toothbrush. Did I mention that my luggage had found another route into CA? Oh, well. With the regulations on what you can carry on, my hygiene supplies are not currently with me. Not a pretty site after a full day of airport fun.
I must have a “please search me I might be dangerous face” because I was once again chosen for an extensive search. This turned out to be somewhat pleasant. I had the opportunity to walk through the “we smell you instead of beep you for bad things” wind tunnel. It is a brief event but very windy. I was told to hold down my shirt “just in case”. I was grateful for opportunity to have my hair “restyled” by Denver’s top security professionals. Then I was asked to take off my shoes, which happened to get temporarily “lost” for a while coming through the x-ray screening machine. Don’t ask me how this happen but it sure made me very grateful for my shoes when they were found! Taking off my shoes did cause for comment about my socks. I was wearing my “mismatched but they came that way” socks. The security guy laughed when he saw them. I proceeded to tell them that they were supposed to look that way but he laughed again and told me to stick with that story. Apparently the mismatch sock style hasn’t come to Colorado yet. (As a matter of fact, it hasn’t quite come to OK yet either...I am alone with a “style” all my own. Hummm…. ) The man who ended up going through all my stuff was from Africa. He has been here in the USA for seven years. He was delighted to see a photo of the triplet’s and we had a nice conversation about Liberia while he did his job. A very nice man, along with a pleasant and somewhat amusing security search experience. I was off to a good start.
I had a short wait to catch my flight and now here I sit. The flight has been most pleasant thus far…a window seat with an empty one between me a kind older gentleman, diet coke and a laptop with a battery that stays charged. Life is good. I was able to check in with my precious family this morning before my flight took off and they also are doing well. I am so blessed to have a husband who supports my annual week retreat with my mom and my sister. We have enjoyed this special time together at Asilomar for the last ten years. This will most likely be the last time we take this annual quilting class together. Life is changing. We do hope that the Lord will orchestrate new opportunities to have special time together in the future.
I hope you don’t mind me rambling on. I just felt lead to share with you about my adventure and how even in this, the Lord has shown Himself faithful, as always. God is good. The plan is for me to arrive in San Francisco around 8:00AM and catch a flight into Monterey. If all goes as scheduled, I should arrive in Monterey by 10:00AM, almost 24 hours after I thought I would arrive. I am looking forward to spending a few hours with my sister, Stasi, and a friend, Lois Polodny, before my mom arrives at Asilomar and our class begins. It should be so much fun. Well, that is my plan. But only the Lord knows how this day will really turn out…
