Friday 7 March 2014

A roundabout journey home teaches me about life

What an epic journey I have been on to try to beat the weather coming to Bermuda. To try to get home so I can spend some of the weekend with my children and my husband.
I decided to change my flight to get home early only to have spent the majority of the day yesterday in airports and on cancelled flights one after the other. I left Houston, Texas at 1.55 pm only to arrive in NYC at 1 am in the morning. More than twelve hours of travel. With each flight being so turbulent that there was silence on each flight. People silently waiting for the flights to end.
Me praying that I could get a flight, any flight that would get me into NYC on time to get my early morning flight to get back to Bermuda. I really started to panic when we sat at the gate for nearly two hours because there were no working toilets, hearing from the stewardess that the FAA requires there to be working toilets before an airplane can depart. Listening to her telling other passengers that if the plane did not take off soon,  it would have to be cancelled because LaGuardia has curfews on when flights can land. Me praying that something would happen to let me get to NYC.
Then after two hours of sitting they told us we would have to change airplanes because they could not fix the toilets and they did not know when there would be a substitute plane. I panicked even more, texted home to let everyone know what was going on. Telling my husband to record Scandal for me because I was going to miss it. After all I had to make sure that I didn't miss out on my indulgence because of airplane incidents. Thank goodness for modern technology. Not daring to tell him that part of the reason why I had chosen the route I had was because it would get me to NYC in time to see my favourite show. Once I knew it was not going to happen, I had to let my angst go.
We got off the airplane as they were announcing that the gate for the flight to JFK was being changed to a new gate. JFK when I was flying to LaGuardia to fly out of JFK this morning. I felt like I had been spoken to by my angels. I went to the gate agent and in the sweetest and most charming way as possible asked her if I could change form the LaGuardia flight to the JFK flight. She looked at me and told me no at first but I kept talking to her, telling her I had flown all the way from Houston, had been switched from one airplane to the next to sit on the runway for two hours and all I wanted was to get home to my children. I didn't shout or blame, I just asked. She looked at me again and switched me without question, She even bumped me up to the Premier seats. I thanked her profusely. Something in my journey finally working out.
After another bumpy flight, with no service from the stewardess because of how turbulent it was, we finally landed in JFK at about 12.30 in the morning, a whole 4 hours later than I was meant to get there but I was so grateful that I made it to NYC that the time did not matter. And I was even able to accept I had missed Scandal - just wasn't meant to be and hopefully my husband remembered to DVR it for me.
I eventually fell asleep for 2 hours to jump up to get to the airport for my 7.30 departure. Leaving early to beat the crowds only to find myself in the long security Jet Blue lines for nearly 40 minutes, watching people panicking because they had not allowed enough time for the lines. Having been thought what I had, I decided to let the stress go and accept I was where I was meant to be. Closer to home than I was the day before.
An epic journey that took me on a roundabout route with many delays and bumps but eventually got me to where I needed to be. The angst I felt, the anger I felt, the panic I felt giving way to calm because I knew I was learning an invaluable lesson about life - sometimes we will be rerouted, bumped here and there, encounter turbulence but when we have faith and do not lose patience, life always takes us where we are meant to be. Though I was 4 hours late, I ended up landing at the airport I wanted to land in the first place.
Now here's to hoping life intends for me to get home early today so I can pick my daughter up from school. Praying and asking you to pray with me too.

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