I’ve said it a bunch, but it seems like the more I pray the luckier I get. A few pretty significant events happened to me this week, some directly, and some indirectly. Of course I feel blessed that many of my friends from far off reached out to me and asked if we were okay as a result of the wildfires. So thank you to those who reached out, and those who prayed, and those who just silently hoped for the best. We’re fine, no worries and were never in any danger.
So as some of you who follow my facebook check-ins know, I was off on another trip this week. I was determined to take Connor to his first day of preschool with Nita and left later than one of my co-workers for our DC trip. I was lucky enough to get upgraded and was wondering if the meal would be crappy or not and perhaps even if the number 1 would do a pre-board cocktail. It was on my first hop that I got a text from one of my colleagues that her plane had a security breach and they had to exit the plane. When I got to Dallas, my co-worker told me the details. Apparently two Somali men were moving around the cabin and changing seats prior to take off. My colleague was former Army Intelligence (no jokes here people) J. She said she noticed him and his partner and had that queasy feeling. That’s when the flight crew said that they were to be delayed for a few moments. Then the suits came on the plane. One went right up to the guy she had a bad feeling about and who was one row up from her bent down and said, “Come on lets go…you know! And leave your bag.”
The woman next to her expressed her shock and my co-worker then said, “Wait, there is another one 15 rows back, and described his clothes.” A minute later that person was also escorted off the plane. They also asked everyone to de-board the plane and please leave all their carry on luggage. Okay, here’s where I got a little miffed. Apparently some narcissistic idiots who thought their blouse, ipad, and lipstick were more important than the safety of 190 people, tried to grab their belongings. They were shouted down by several of the other passengers and other flight crew. And much like the professionally offended acted like the victims. The directions were clear! DO NOT GRAB YOUR belongings. Anyway, they asked half the plane to get off while the other half were allowed to retrieve their stuff. Then they were escorted out of the gate and had to re-check through a closed security scanner. Repeat with the other half. The plane was decommissioned and swept. All luggage and cargo was removed and all passengers were re booked on flights. And of course there was the obligatory, “This is bullshit!” It reminded me of the comedy routine Everything's amazing and nobody is happy.
In any case, she was re booked on my flight and as she happily went back to her seat with a great attitude of “at least I’m alive, thank God TSA did their job.” There was a low grumble. My meal was now completely irrelevant, I was happy to be safe as well and just couldn’t wait to get home after a quick one night trip.
On my way home, I was able to bug out a bit early and caught an amazingly tight standby flight home. I even got an exit row. Then on the next leg, by the way Dallas to Austin on Thursday night is tough. Even though there is a flight every hour and a half there are more Executive Platinum (EP) fliers in Austin than in any other major metropolitan area. I’m not exaggerating; it has to do with number of flights because you always have to connect to either DFW or Chicago. Plus, all the road warriors try to fly out Sunday or Monday and home Thursday to do Friday home office hours. They go get dry cleaning, see the dentist, take kids to school, or just try to act like normal parents. Anyway, if you’re platinum you have a chance to get on, gold almost none. If you have no status, you are only wasting everyone’s time to try to standby. All the EPs who get in early always try to hop the standby. And they automatically move to the top of the list. Plus if you are EP, there is a thing called “never full.” So If an EP calls at the last second the agent has to accept the reservation and book them, meanwhile in the process, bumping someone else. Back to my story. So my original flight was scheduled to leave Washington at 7pm. But I caught the 3:10 home. I was booked on standby for the 6:55 and was the second to last person to get on the plane. I made it, but had to gate check my bag. Again, considering yesterday’s events and the fact that I’d get home 3 hours earlier, no big deal.
When I got to baggage claim I checked facebook to see if there were any more Aggie haters from the SEC move. I’ve been in a steady war (in a fun way) over this. Instead I saw a message from a dear old friend. He said that a girl in his daughter’s first grade class had lost her home and everything in it in the wildfires spreading around central Texas. He said he remembered a post I’d put about another friend who had a house for sale that was empty but they were willing to help a displaced family. Well I put the two of them together. What is even more adorable is my friend donating the house was almost apologetic. Actually not almost, was apologetic. She said, “Marco, there are only air mattresses and no furniture. There are no cooking utensils, or anything. I said, “my dear, that’s enough. We’ll get the family some sheets, pots, pans, plates, food, towels, toiletries, etc. As long as you have AC, water, and power, I’m sure they’re happy to have a place.” They were going to move into a hotel.
I can tell you as a guy who has lived in a suitcase, hotels are cool when they are part of a vacation or if someone else is paying the extra 2 million percent for room service. Seriously, 50 bucks for a BLT and a cup of soup in my DC hotel last night. That’s just stupid. In any case, God bless you Shari and Mark Riddle! You have changed someone’s life. By the way, I have countless stories of friends who have done amazing things for others in need. This is just the most recent example.
So I pulled into my driveway. Threw my arms around my wife and told her I loved her. I checked on my sleeping kids on the video monitors and thought of how truly blessed I am. And I have wonderful friends around me who continually push me to be a better person. Isn’t it amazing that people are annoyed so quickly and can’t even see the blessings in front of their noses? I guess it’s still funny how the more I pray and surround myself with good people, the luckier I get. May God bless and protect you all.
No comments:
Post a Comment