Musings from Minnesota

Hello guys:

I just got back from an appearance on the Mike and Juliet in the Morning Show with Geraldo Rivera. I flew all of the way to New York from Phoenix to do the 10 minute segment (which I didn't mind so much) but then on the way home I got caught in a snow storm. You know the drill: flight cancelled, can't get another one, long lines, everybody frustrated, planes late, air port snowed in, re- routed, missed connections. Bottom line it took me 36 hours to do something that would normally happen in 7.

Here's the cool part. I am an impatient control freak who hates to fly. You all should know that by now. Can you imagine a more frustrating circumstance than that for a woman like me. Waiting and not knowing when I am goning to get on this aluminum tube with jet fuel on the sides to hurtle me through the air at 500 miles an hour at 38,000 feet. The weather sucks. I worry if they have de-iced the plane sufficiently. (I've watched every air disaster show on TV) Delay after delay. They repeat "we're putting you on stand by" like its a mantra. I am stressed because the longer I have to think about what I am going to do the more convinced I am that it will be a fatal event.

And then I have my new rule (a lasting remnant of one of my PIPs) No alcohol in the airport. Nasty habit that, especially when there are flight delays. I want control and to the extent I must drink to stay calm I've lost the battle. So I have not cocktail the first while in the airport. White knuckling the whole affair.

(Now booze on the plane is another matter altogether. But I have stepped down from tranquilzers to Johnny Walker and now I am down to just one of those unless there is turbulence. Small steps - right direction.) Anyway. . .

Like I said here's the cool part. I didn't lose lose my cool. I was so zen it was scary. I got to read an entire book without stopping (a rare a beautiful thing in my world). It was good too. I talked to people.

'It's just weather' I told myself. They cancel planes to keep me safe. My husband was missing me. Sent me a text and said I 'looked hot'. That has value. Kids even missed me. Oldest sent me a text - voluntary communication from teenager to mother that did not involve a request for money or a ride. Priceless.

Lesson? Time waiting need not be time wasted. If you concentrate on the stuff you can do the stuff you can't is less of an irritant.

Could it be I am growing up? What are the odds? (By the way - I called this blog Musings in Minnesota because on my circuitous route home I ended up stuck in the Minneapolis airport.)