There were many moments in my 36 whirlwind hours in Florida this weekend that were noteworthy however when the hidden treasure displayed itself, I immediately recognized the wisdom from it. There’s always a little treasure hiding in every stupid thing that happens. I’ve learned this. You have to be looking for it and be open to it but its there. The universe speaks to everyone differently but for me, it usually comes to me in the form of a song…. This time I was randomly sitting in an Irish bar with old friends in Boynton Beach Florida after having just swam in the ocean in a city I’ve never been to, 4 hours from where I was supposed to be, drinking a beer and listening to someone playing The Gambler on their guitar.
Just twelve hours earlier I was sobbing in a bathroom at an airport in the perpetual plane delay of doom.
Rewinding, I decided last minute to go to Florida for a special person’s birthday 😉 I sold off a few things and it turns out, you can buy last minute tickets for super cheap… especially if you go to the Wal-Mart of airlines; Spirit. I’m usually a Southwest girl…I’ll call them the Target of airlines. However, my broke self was looking for something even less so even though I knew I was basically dealing with the devil, I booked my $175 flight to Tampa on Spirit Airlines.
Being my second trip with them, I was better prepared this time. I had learned some valuable lessons previously. I literally shoved everything into a purse-sized bag so they couldn’t try to charge me for anything extra. I had a water bottle this time so I could enjoy partaking in a beverage while I sat in the tiniest, unreclinable seat ever. (If you never have flown Spirit, these are the things you get in in every flight you’ve ever been on except for Spirit. You rich person, you! ha.) It’s kind of like getting on a Greyhound bus, if you’ve ever done one of those either. You have to accept when you agree to fly on this airline that they are going to try to take money from you at every possible turn, you are going to be uncomfortable, that you are going to meet some crazy people, and you will not get there when you plan to. I’m a very very experienced expert broke traveler so I know these caveats but this last experience tops them all.
Apparently getting a plane that works and a crew that isn’t drunk and shows up when its time to leave is not including in the ticket price.
I go to the airport in Chicago at 3:00, with a departure time of 5:00 and arrival time of 10:30. As I figured, within an hour of my arrival, there was a delay for the weather. However, I was bummed to see my NEW arrival time was at 2:00am! “Well, that only makes one night in Tampa now, and I miss the celebration,” I grumbled to myself in self-pity. New departure time is 6:10. Unfortunately, that was just the first thing. An hour later at 6:30 we discover a maintenance issue! The say that they have no estimated departure time now and that they aren’t sure when we will get to leave! I immediately go into the bathroom and sob like a 5 year old. Soon, I realized I just needed a beer! So I sit and grumble with many others and talk about Chicago and travel until I get the third message. The plane is fixed but we have no crew. SPIRIT AIRLINES CAN’T FIND THEIR CREW! Can you even wrap your head around that? Immediately several people talked about how they saw the pilot drunk in another wing of O’Hare. They have to fly in another crew! At this point, it becomes obvious I will miss my connection in Fort Lauderdale to Tampa (the most random layover ever) and I can’t even get a refund because they won’t cancel the flight. They decide at 11:00pm that they are going to issue us meal tickets… AND THERE IS NOTHING OPEN IN THE AIRPORT NOW!! By now it is 12:15 am on Saturday, I’m still in Chicago, I’ve been delayed for 7 hours, and I will be flying into a city with no way out until late the next day. Or I could just go home and cancel the whole thing and eat the price of the tickets… helllllll naw! So I text the man and say, “Hey, I’m about to be stranded in Ft. Lauderdale for an undetermined amount of time… Wanna come hang in Ft. Lauderdale?”….and so at 1:00am he begins to drive the 4.5 hours across the state to come and get me. It’s good to be with someone of the same mindset: you can make anything an adventure. You can choose joy instead of bitterness when bad things happen. It truly is a choice of mindset.
Exhausted I arrive in Fort Lauderdale at 6:00am. After a fight with the parking lot, I retreat to my free hotel a few miles from the beach… and instead of my intended plan of going to Tampa I stayed for free in a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, got in a few hours of sleep, woke up and had a Primanti Brothers sandwich, swam in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean for hours, laid in the sun, ate Buttered Popcorn ice cream, drank a Long Island across from the beach listening to live music, met up with an old friend at an Irish Pub, and closed down a Sushi Restaurant with some Sake. All in the span of 12 hours. NONE of that whatsoever was planned.
So there I sit at the pub, listening to a dude strum out The Gambler. Somehow, I know every word to that song. Kenny Rogers always makes me think of my childhood because that was the one tape we could all agree on in the car and at the York County Fair they would be blare Kenny Rogers in the loudspeakers. I smiled and started singing along when we came to “Now Ev’ry gambler knows that the secret to survivin’ Is knowin’ what to throw away and knowing what to keep.” That’s when I found my hidden treasure because this time as a 27 year old, it meant more to me when just words to the country music I grew up listening to. Maybe it was the beer and the Long Island and the sun and the lack of sleep but Kenny Rogers threw me into a introspective flurry. I literally did an entire life analysis on that song.
Anyone who knows me know that i have a hard time knowin what to throw away and knowing what to keep and I mean that in every possible scenario, haha! If you’ve ever lived with me you know that I’m what some call a “collector” lol. I get sentimental about things and I keep things long past their need and their practicality. It’s something I have gotten better with over time but a struggle. And it does spill over into every area of my life…. But the secret to surviving really is knowing when its time to throw something away and when you need to stick it out. This goes for relationships, jobs, objects… sometimes its time to recognize that and move on to something else. I know I’m not the only person to struggle with that decision and ultimately… it’s a gamble. It might not work out but if it does work out…. hot damn! And the best thing to do is give up control and go with it. Make the decision, don’t avoid it, and follow through. The dealing isn’t done so don’t worry about those failures. There will be more chances to win. Get rid of the stuff that doesn’t matter and keep the stuff that does. LOL. The Gambler… now THAT’s a good life lesson in those lyrics 🙂 Think I’m crazy? I don’t mind. I just know that its true and that it sunk into me like never before.
Anyways, Spirit could’ve ruined my trip but it didn’t. We chose to make the best of it and it was better than I could have ever planned! It made me think of two things:
- I read once “Control is also a result of being attached to a specific outcome—an outcome we’re sure is best for us, as if we always know what’s best.”
- One of my favorite Star Trek, Captain Picard quotes “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. This is not a weakness that is life.”
That’s all for now, folks!
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