That seems like a good life motto. It's definitely a good travel motto for us today.
The plan for day one of our trip was to take off from Minneapolis at 7 a.m., change planes in Salt Lake City, meet my sister and husband for a late lunch in Medford, OR, then rent a car and drive to Crescent City, CA on the coast for a few days of ocean and redwoods. So we rose at 4:30 a.m. and boarded the plane just before 7 a.m. We'd been sitting at the gate for awhile when the captain came on to say that the air conditioning needed fixing and they had to wait for someone to come and get it going. We left 20 minutes late and the rest of that flight was fine; seemed short even for a 2+ hour flight. After a 2-hr layover in Salt Lake City, that included a walk, we boarded our next plane; a much smaller plane (one 1 toilet and 1 flight attendant). We started taxing and then stopped. Soon the captain came on to say that the computer had been acting funny and they stopped to reboot and that fixed the problem. Whew! We left 20 minutes late, thinking that my sister and her husband would soon be leaving Mt. Shasta to get to Medford in time to meet us.
The second flight started out calmly. We reached cruising altitude while Pete and I watched the bizarre landscape of the Great Salt Lake and salt flats below. About 15 minutes into the flight, there was a sudden pressure change and my super-sensitive ears felt it with a sharp pain. It passed quickly. Evenso, I was grateful the attendant starting serving beverages and peanuts right then. This soothed me. We were all happily snacking and drinking when the first officer came on to say the following. "Everything is fine but we've had a situation up here. The side windscreen (aka windshield) on the left of the plane shattered. There is no immediate danger; the windows are all double paned and only the outer window is broken but we are turning the plane around and heading back to Salt Lake City. We are sorry for the inconvenience."
And so it was; the plane turned around and we landed back in Salt Lake City, everyone safe, very close to when we had originally planned to land in Medford. I called my sister and we waited. We didn't have to wait too long. They found us another, somewhat larger plane, and we boarded again. We sat at the gate, mostly on our phones, telling our respective people that we were on our way. Then the first officer came on to say "we sorry for the inconvenience but we are having trouble with one of our doors and are waiting for maintenance to come and fix it." Maintenance came in short order and did indeed fix it while we waited. Twenty more minutes and we were on our way again, this time without incident. By some miracle, we landed in Medford safely, albeit 3 hours later than originally intended.
It all could have been so much worse. And then I began reflecting on this thought; that sometimes the way to go when something is broken is back to the beginning and start over. I don't think it is as easy to do in relationships but I think it is possible. It takes courage but sometimes we can go to the other and say, "Let's go back to the beginning and remember what brought us together int he first place." If we can remember that, if we can find the beginning with the new perspective of where we've been, perhaps we can start on a fresh journey that will bring us all to where we want to be. I pray this is so.
After some hugs and picking up of supplies from my sister, Pete and I enjoyed a lovely foggy ride down the Redwood Highway from Grant's Pass, Oregon to Crescent City, CA. It was stunning! And at the end of the drive, we had sat on the cold beach in the fog and drank a cup of the wine my sister gave us; giving thanks for life, for love. We couldn't be more grateful!
