Race of Impermanence
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| Elizabeth at Work |
My daughter, Elizabeth, flew in a few days ago from California. She booked her flight with Spirit Airlines.
Some of my readers may already be saying to themselves, “I know where this is going…” I’ve heard many stories about families who have been put out by Spirit Airlines and swear, “I’ll NEVER fly Spirit again!” Those were Elizabeth’s words, too.
Elizabeth was to fly into Detroit on Tuesday, the 16th. Her flight was cancelled and she couldn’t reschedule a flight until Thursday-late. Very late. On Thursday, she still wasn’t sure if the plane would take off and the story goes on and on. Inconvenience, frustration, anger, resentment…we both went through a barrage of emotions. The biggest being sheer disappointment.
She arrived at 1:30 a.m. on Friday. Seeing her exit the luggage-arrival area made my heart leap. Nothing else mattered. We were together and the past and future didn’t even push its way into our happiness at being with each other.
Did we lose three days? Days we’ll never get back? Days we were cheated? Yes, I did think that at first. I couldn’t believe it was happening. But I worked on not letting negative feelings cheat me of the present.
The hours, days and experiences we were meant to have together were never a given. Just because the calendars were blocked in. Just because the ticket was paid for. Just because our expectations were solid. Just because Elizabeth did what she was suppose to do -- didn’t guarantee a damn thing.
I thought and thought about the “Time” lost. I have had similar feelings when people reject me, silence themselves from me, become ill, die, move away… It hurts until I think about the expectations I have and see there can be no absolutes in life. I have what I have and I want to make what I have meaningful.
Elizabeth and I texted over and over. Using Emojis to express feelings I didn’t even think about using before. We laughed at the absurdity of two good people kept from seeing each other.
We didn’t lose the time. Our adventure was not what we expected, but we shared it. I couldn’t hold her on Tuesday. But, I think we both benefited by not letting our frustration and anger linger. Sitting, moping, crying and pissing the time away wouldn’t have changed anything.
I take that back. It could have poisoned the time we have together now. It could have made us more tense and strained when we finally did get our long-awaited hug at DTW.
Writing about this makes me smile. I’m learning. Taking what I have and running with it.
The Chicago to Mackinac Race will begin soon. My dad would have liked a life comparison to sailing. Check the weather, the nautical charts, fit a crew perfect for racing, double check supplies, visualize the best and worse case scenarios and get everyone on board.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivg1n8s1HYE Sailors talk about race to Mackinac
No matter how prepared the captain, how experienced the crew, how favorable the weather forcasts, nothing is a sure thing. The present is the focus. It shifts and turns, it teases, disappoints, but is a loss only if we give up. No one takes our life from us, we are the captain of the vessel “Impermanence”.
I checked to see if there was a vessel called “Impermanence”. There is a Canadian vessel called Impermanence.
Chicago to Mackinac info for 2015
Official weather forecaster for Chicago to Mackinac Race
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