I lost “it” that morning. I didn’t just lose my patience, my peace, and my calm. I lost my joy for the trip as I stood in line. I didn’t yell at anyone or do anything physically, but I lost “it.”
When we finally got to the counter, the man asked how we were doing. I was tempted to tell him! But his calm demeanor and his question, “How can I help you?” won me over. It didn’t make the line behind us move faster, but he took his time to get us to Austin that day. The first couple flights he checked would have put us on standby, but it was clear there were going to be a lot of people on standby, and we wanted to avoid it if we could. We heard other people at the counter being told there were no more flights to their destinations that day. Our agent got on the phone and kept trying until he got confirmed seats for us. It would take all day and we would fly through New York, but we would get to Austin.
While we were still disappointed we would lose a day in Austin with our boys, we were going to get there. I got a large Diet Coke and we calmed down and regrouped while we waited for our flight to New York. We even found time to pray. Wish I would have thought of that sooner!
I lost “it” that morning, but I found “it” that day too. I found how much of a difference one person who keeps his head and acts with kindness can make when things are falling apart. I found how much I lean on Cathy and other family members I texted with that day. In the midst of the chaos as we waited in line, our son texted if we could get a flight he would drive to meet us whether that be Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio. My sister and her family actually had their flight to visit my brother-in-law’s family in Puerto Rico delayed a day. We texted “silver linings” to each other through the day. And I am convinced the challenge of getting to Austin made me find our time with our sons even more enjoyable after we got there.