I’m sitting in my hotel room in Rockford, IL counting down my departure to a friend’s wedding. I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in this morning (although I technically woke up about the same time in California), but nonetheless, it is nice when the clock says it’s 10am and you are just rolling out of bed.
As I sit here, I’ve been thinking about my past week and its collection of experiences.
On Wednesday, I spoke to a group of students at South Lake Tahoe Middle School. I’m surprised they are even able to focus in school as it sits in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I scheduled a quick one-day trip, flying in that morning and out in the evening. Before I travel in fall or winter, I check the forecast, but I figured with it being June I didn’t have much to worry about and simply tossed on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. As I drove from Reno, I started to see… SNOW. Yep, good ole-fashioned, “how’s Frosty doing?” snow. For some of you, that might not be a big deal, but I live in N. CA. It has snowed a total of 2 times where I live in my lifetime and both of those occassions were for about 15 minutes–but now, in the MONTH OF JUNE, it was snowing. I was not dressed for the occassion and was quite cold.
The program went fairly well and I was able to make it back to my flight in plenty of time only to get stuck in the security line with what had to be a trainee. She ran each bag 3 times and then had someone inspect my bag (which always cracks me up when I do teambuilding days and carry on a bag full of beach balls, balloons, yarn, clothespins, etc.) When I finally got out of the line, I walked right onto my plane.
A nice woman sat down next to me. For the first 1/2 of the flight we hardly shared a word, but then we began chatting. I’m always a bit surprised by how an airplane conversation begins. Some take off–others don’t (the conversation that is). This woman was quite incredible–very successful, very driven, and yet very much in search of something else. She had found in recent years that life wasn’t quite the plan she expected initially. Her husband after a few short years of marriage was diagnosed and died of cancer in 3 months. Within the next 3 years she lost her father and all of her brothers to heart disease. Now, she sits as the head of a very successful company and wants her life to be something more.
As I left the plane I thought about the two contrast events of that day–I hadn’t adequately prepared for my trip (a sweater would have been nice), and yet here was a woman who had done all the correct preparation (in our modern sense) for life–and yet life itself went and surprised her anyway. I guess we can’t plan for every twist and turn that will happen in life–some will be sweet (I love seeing falling snow), others will be bitter–but I guess they are all part of the next chapter.
This woman I met is looking at the next chapter and really open to the possibility it may present. She didn’t seem sad at the hardships she faced, although they obviously have to have some influence on her. She was simply looking forward to today.
As we left the plane, two young passengers continuing on the flight sat and smiled at each exiting passenger. “Have a nice day!” “Enjoy your day!” they said.
“Isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?” the woman said to me as we walked up the ramp.
Yeah, it was pretty nice.
Enjoy your day everybody (but maybe check the forecast if you’re headed to Tahoe)