I am writing this blog post from the Fort Lauderdale Airport. I am hoping to fly out to Newark in about an hour from now and then drive home from there. I was planning on being home by now. My original flight was scheduled to leave 7 hours ago from a different airport over 50 miles away. That flight was cancelled.
No, you will not see me on national television, featured as a passenger who was unruly or who caused a riot. No, I haven’t pulled out the ‘doctor card’ and demanded that I be given a private jet to fly me home because of my status as Dr. Susan M. Featro. “Everything happens for a reason,” is something my mother has always said. I am trusting that the universe / God / my Higher Power has orchestrated this change of plans in order for me to a have a different experience. I believe that we are always co-creating and manifesting exactly what we need to experience…in order to remember who we are.
Sometimes, life doesn’t go as we have ‘planned.’ One element in my yoga practice is flexibility; just as I strive to be flexible on my yoga mat, I can strive to be flexible off of my mat in the rest of my life. The quote “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” has been attributed to John Lennon and to Allen Saunders. I am choosing to not get wrapped up in stressing over the changed plans and what could have been. Yes, I am disappointed that I will not get to join my parents and my cats for dinner to tell them about my trip. Yes, I am expecting that I will be tired tomorrow when I wake up early to go to play the organ and sing at church after getting to bed after midnight. (For me, 9pm is a late night, so this is a wild thrust into night owl territory.) But I will not be dwelling in the past or in the future; instead, I will occupy the present moment and show up for my life and see what might be calling me in closer. Is there something for me to notice here, internally or externally? Is there a connection with a stranger that will happen and uplift us both? I am open to it all. One new experience I’ve had so far in navigating this cancelled flight: using Uber for the first time to get from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale. I also just ate at the Food Network Kitchen.
In my belief system, none of us are entitled to anything that we ‘own’ on this planet…and as we all are one, there is no hierarchy with anyone being better or more important than anyone else. I am no more special and no less special than another passenger, and I have no right and no reason to treat inconsiderately an airport employee or anyone else doing his or her job…just because of my privileged status as “doctor” or because of any self-determined extenuating circumstances which I might attempt to justify as trumping others’ stories. We are all on a journey, and we will all get there. Sometimes the detours are the most exciting parts of the trip. I am grateful for the opportunity to show up and to be myself as I take each step…no matter where my journey takes me. Bon voyage!
