Lousy Layovers and Lessons Learned

At 2pm, after two trips through security, one missed flight, one cancelled flight, 12 and a half hours in the same airport, almost 16 hours worth of delays,  and 27 hours in route, I finally got on my fourth of four flights to take me into Medford, Oregon. I had arrived in the San Francisco airport at 1:30 that morning and found myself trying to sleep on a bench in the food court. It wasn’t quite long enough so I improvised and added a chair at the end to put my feet on.  It wasn’t quite wide enough either but I wedged myself in, barely able to turn. And it was far from warm enough. Without a blanket, I used my thin rain jacket to cover my feet and legs, two t-shirts to cover my body, and a hat to cover my eyes. Loud announcements for a conveniently open Subway in Terminal  A and patriotically free amenities for military and their family on third floor, as well as caring warnings against leaving your bags unattended blared over the loud speaker every 5 minutes. This rudely interrupted all thoughts of a good nights nap.  At 4:30 am, the food court opened and the morning rush started coming through. Groaning inside and painfully squinting at the world, I got myself up. Thankfully I had some friends to talk to and a computer to keep me half-way entertained for the remaining nine hours, but never the less, I was feeling pretty miserable.

When I sat down in my seat on the flight to Medford, a small piece of ice fell in my lap, I examined it and looked up. Really, I thought to myself, after all this and I get a seat under a leaky A.C.? I hadn’t read my devotions yet and opened up my handy travel bible to James. The second verse read “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” As if on cue, another drop fell from the ceiling. Suddenly, the whole situation became very funny to me, and I realized yet again, the power of choice. At some point, I had chosen miserable as my mood for the day and it faithfully stuck. But not anymore!  I realized that if I came to my friends wedding weekend as miserable as I was, dragging my airport catastrophe behind me, it would make me miserable AND miserable to be around. Sometimes life gives you leaky ceilings and you can pout in the puddle or you can enjoy the rain. Or, more realistically, I can crease my forehead  in disapproval at the ceiling, and scoot over just a little bit, and laugh. Laugh because sometimes God lets those leaky ceilings remind us that we need Him, and His attitude, and His gift of humor that makes everything a little better, and everyone a whole lot nicer.