Today is not my day. I know that. I’ve been reminded of it all day long.
It started last night, Sunday. My husband and I had plans for an early movie with friends. I thought we would be home in time for me to pack for my trip today. We were not.
I set the alarm for 5:30 this morning so I could go for a run before kicking it into high gear to get everything done before I rushed to the airport.
I walked my warm up laps and my hypochondria began yelling at me. I knew a run was out of the question if I planned to stand upright the rest of the day. Instead of running, I did my resistance training. I watered all my flowers and plants and called it a morning.
Quickly showered and attempted to put my contacts in. I am still not good at this. It takes a lot of time and tears for me to get them in properly. On a trip to the kitchen, I realized I couldn’t see and noticed one I worked so hard to get in my eye was missing. I started over.
I hurriedly packed up my stuff. I pack for business trips so frequently that I rarely forget anything. I know what has to be packed and where it fits in the suitcase. I got out of sync on one tiny thing this morning: I was out of toothpaste in my travel bag. This meat I had to leave the toothpaste out until after breakfast.
I got my work done and due to required errands, left my house at 11 am. My first stop was to drop off suits at the cleaners. The next stop was the post office to get a box out to my nephew in Iraq. Did you know you don’t just pop into the post office with a box going to Iraq? Oh no you don’t! I did not know that. After filling out forms and waiting in a line a second time, I had the ZIP code wrong. I had to get out of line again and call my brother, who had to then call his wife who had to tell him where the correct address was so he could find it and bark it out to me over the phone and THEN get back in line. What I thought was a 5 minute stop turned into 20.
On my one hour drive to the airport, I knew I left something undone. I thought and thought….Dang it! Our car tags expired yesterday! I forgot to get the new sticker for the tags! Oh well, my husband drives that car so I kept driving. I went back over my rush out of the house and realized I did not make that last trip into the bathroom to make sure I had everything – the toothpaste! Oh, no! Not only did I leave the toothpaste, I forgot to brush my teeth…ewwewewewewe…..
I stopped at the bank and checked my suitcase to make sure I put my Rx’s in my travel bag. I just wasn’t sure of myself any more.
I arrived at the airport with no boarding pass thanks to the Delta/Northwest fiasco. The lines were long to check in. I looked longingly over at the Elite/First Class check in line. No one was there. That used to be my line. I used to be Elite until Northwest broke up with me. I wondered….
I walked over to the Elite check in line and checked myself in. The desk agent was not a nice a woman, she had just sent Mr. Infrequent Flyer over to the cattle drive line of regular check in. I acted like I was supposed to be there and she just checked me right on through.
I made a pit stop by the ATM only to discover it didn’t work. “Unable to dispense cash at this time.” Shit! I went through security and broke a nail.
I arrived at the gate where very annoying Infrequent Flyers were holding an Amway rally. Aisles were blocked with bags of airport shopping crap and numerous carry ons. I made sure I ran over a few items with my rolling briefcase as I said “excuse me” really loud.
The air conditioning system on the plane was not working. It was damn hot. We got a “technical” explanation by the pilot. It was still damn hot.
Our flying time was 1 hour 7 minutes. However, the wind was strong and our actual flying time was less than 45 minutes. That is good, however, that was not good for landing. In all my years of flying, I can only think of one other time I have been that damned scared landing. It was bad. People were screaming and crying. I was hyperventilating.
The plane was wobbling from side to side in the strong wind. I could feel the plane’s automatic whatever-they-are stablizers jerking the plane as we came closer to the runway. I could sense we were coming in way too fast, but I think we had to because of the 30 mph wind gusts. We were still wobbling side to side when we hit the runway, first with the left wheels, then we seemed to bounce up and both wheels hit hard. I was doing the yoga breathing thinking of clover and cottonwood trees because if I was going to die, I wanted to be doing something I enjoyed.
Once we felt the front wheels hit, the pilot immediate reversed the engines and I was sure the plane would break apart before we got to the end of the runway.
But we did not. We pulled into the gate in silence other than a few whimpers here and there.
I took my time getting to the car rental counter as I needed to de-stress from that landing. My rental car was a nice SUV. I had easy directions, straight up I-71 about 20 miles. I was cruising along, enjoying the satellite radio and thinking bad thoughts about Budget Car Rental because this SUV had leather seats. They know better than that. But I was in too big of a hurry to make them change the vehicle for me so I took it.
I was in the left lane, singing along to Reba on a classic country station when I heard a pop and OH MY GOD, the damn hood popped open on the damn vehicle!
My autopilot kicked in. I did not panic. I looked out my driver’s window and fixed my eyes on the edge of the shoulder. I didn’t slam on my brakes. I stopped as quickly as I could, pulling over until I could barely see the edge of the shoulder, hoping I was out of traffic. When the vehicle came to a stop, I quickly looked in the rear view mirror and judged that I was out of the traffic lane. I couldn’t find the emergency flashers. I got out of the vehicle and just stood there. Then I panicked.
The world still has Good Samaritans and at times like these I believe the King James Version is the literal truth, even the “wives submit” part. Not one, but two cars pulled over to help me. A woman stood with me asking me if I was Ok and if I needed to call someone while two men shut the hood. There is a nice dent in it, but it is shut, beat down and will not pop open again.
I didn’t want to hold these nice people from saving the rest of the world so I said I was OK and we all left. My heart was racing. My legs were shaking.
I thought about how the day had unfolded so far and deduced that maybe I am supposed to meet my untimely demise on this trip and I keep cheating death. I thought about this for a few minutes and I became very afraid to eat dinner. Surely I would choke to death.
I found my exit, number 131. I believe it is the largest truck stop exit in the entire state of Ohio. And there, just across from the Pilot Travel Center - is my Hampton Inn. It is a good thing I developed a fear of dinner because my choices were Arby’s, White Castle and/or McDonald’s. Determined to make this day get better, I headed toward the nearest “city” 10 miles away. Surely a city that size would have a Chili’s, Applebees, maybe even a Subway.
I drove and drove. I found a Taco Bell, Wendy’s, two Kingdom Hall of Jehovah Witnesses, a Goodwill donation center, a run down Walmart and a Sears hardware. Turned around and drove 10 miles back and ate at Cracker Barrel.
As I sat at my table, awaiting my Chicken -n- Dumplins platter, I knew that my heart could not take another hit today. I had used up all my adrenaline and I was still shaking from the events of the day. I ate slowly and tried to enjoy my meal after all, it could be my last. I still had to cross the highway in truck traffic to get back to the hotel.
Back at my hotel, there is no room service, no bar for a glass of wine, however, the frumpy desk clerk offered me a chocolate chip cookie. I now sit in my room, yoga breathing and trying to relax as a violet thunderstorm rages outsideThe lightening is hitting all around and the thunder shakes the walls. When will this day be over?
