Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Putting it into perspective


I flew home last night from the Art & Soul Retreat. A long cross-country trip, spanning 3 time zones and lengthened by thunder storms on the east coast. The first portion in a 'puddle jumper' was supposed to be a short 50 minute hop between Virginia and North Carolina but we ended up being jostled around in a seemingly endless holding pattern for an hour an a half longer. The passengers, me included, started grumbling about missing flight connections, wondering whether there was enough fuel, and what it would be like to get struck by lightening.

Through it all, the lady next to me calmly read her book. Turns out she was in Virginia comforting her best friend who had her leg amputated due to an infection in her toe that was rapidly spreading. While in recovery, her friend went into code blue and nearly died.

I climbed out of the plane onto the tarmac, tears of empathy mixing with the rain and realized that in the grand scheme of things, a missed flight connection was no big deal.

6 comments:

  1. That is too true.
    I'm glad you made it safely though:)

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  2. Perfect, a lesson in how very fortunate we are. Those reminders can't come too often. The great thing about getting older is being able to appreciate how good we have it, no matter how we have it.

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  3. Oh friend, yes sometimes we need stories like this to see our blessings. Be well. Have fun being at home with the guys again. Hugs.

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  4. Strange how our perspectives change. Beautiful picture too.

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  5. IT does put it in perspective. We need a reminder once in a while.

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  6. Great reminder of what REALLY matters!

    Glad you arrived back safely ... :o) Did you have a fab time and make and enjoy lots and lots of loveliness?

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