Really?

Okay friends, I just had to share with you what the past couple of days have been like. It’s been… not awesome. And this is long, so you won’t hurt my feelings if you stop reading now. :)

I was supposed to be in Florida all week for work (from Sunday morning to Saturday night). Collin dropped me off at the airport on Sunday at 5am and I was on my way. I was excited because I have never been to Florida and I had a good week of visiting private schools planned along with a fun meet and greet and college fair at the end of the week. And I couldn’t wait to see the ocean!

When I landed in Miami a few hours later, I called Collin to tell him I made it. I went on and on about this crazy group of people next to me on my flight. “Omygosh, they were hilarious, they already had their beach clothes on and were ordering Vodka on our 7am flight… bla blah bla.” He, ever so graciously, listened and even laughed at my ridiculous story. When I finally shut up, he told me that Mike’s dad died that morning. He has been sick for a while and we knew it was coming, but we are really sad for Mike and his family. And I was sad I couldn’t be there with Collin. So I spent hours (I’m not exaggerating… hours) on the phone with American Airlines trying to convince them to change my flight so I could get back in time for the funeral without charging me a truckload. I made a new friend (Wendy with American in DFW is really nice!) but couldn’t get the ticket changed. I also had tons of phone calls to make to my office, hotels, etc since I would be leaving Florida 4 days earlier than planned. A colleague of mine is coming out here to take my place (you rock, Anis!) so I wanted to be sure everything was set up well for him.

Now, let me back up… I shipped three boxes of work stuff to my hotel in Miami a while ago. And of course they were nowhere to be found at the hotel when I arrived. After having three different people at the front desk check, I finally gave up and decided they really had not gotten there and I would have to do work stuff without my materials.

The next morning I went to my first high school for a visit. When I left the school, a warning light came on in the car. I remembered a car I used to have would show the same warning when the tires were low, so I jumped out and looked at the tires just to be sure everything was okay. I thought I would pull into a gas station and check them out further when I could find one. Within minutes of leaving the parking lot, the car was wobbling and there was a steady thud coming from the right side of the car. I immediately pulled into a CVS parking lot and sure enough, the front right tire was completely flat. At this point, I think I said out-loud, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” (Was I talking to God? To the universe? To the car? I’m not sure) and then I laughed in amazement at this situation. I had to be at the next school in one hour. The clock was ticking. I called Collin and he gave me a quick pep talk while I found the jack and spare tire. I set out to change the stupid thing and I’m sure I looked quite like a damsel in distress. (What’s a damsel anyway?) And then I heard the voice of an angel (okay… really it was the heavily accented voice of a male Floridian) say “You got that or do you need some help?” Um… yes please. :) And the nice guy changed my tire in 10 minutes flat. Awesome.

By this time, I was a good 30 minutes away from my hotel (to which I was not planning to return since I was moving on to the next city) and even further away from the nearest rental car place. My phone rang. It was the hotel. They found my boxes. Of course they did. So after a visit to my next high school, I spent the rest of the afternoon driving back to get the boxes and trading in the car for another rental… you know, one without a donut tire so I could drive on the interstate at a reasonable speed. All the while, let me remind you, the beach was nearly close enough to hear. So sad. Maybe I’ll get up an hour early in the morning and take a walk…

Collin has been playing clean up all day too. It’s a lot more work to be gone than actually staying and following the schedule you had planned. He packed this week full of meetings, work stuff, and school stuff since I was going to be gone and then spent hours rearranging and canceling and preparing for it all.

I’m sure there is some profound lesson to be learned through all this… some reason my day sucked… something for which I’m supposed to be grateful or some revelation I’m supposed to have… but I’m not going to even try to make the connections tonight. I’ll just say this: we live in an imperfect world, but there are people who make me remember what it’s all about. And while I didn’t really get to watch the Oscar’s last night, they were on while I was on the phone. So in acceptance speech fashion: Thanks to my wonderful husband for being so kind and level-headed, to Wendy and Holly at American for being so nice and understanding and at least attempting to change my airline tickets, Anis for being an awesome team player and coming to Florida, thanks to the UPS guy for packing my boxes even though you were supposed to be closed and getting them shipped to Orlando so Anis will have stuff, to Louis (the angel) for taking the time for a stranger with a flat, to my supervisor who didn’t freak out on me for ditching this trip for the sake of family, to Bridget and Melissa who kindly helped me from the office, and no thanks to Thrifty rental company for the bum tire and taking an ungodly amount of time getting me a new car. :)

And last, but certainly not least, thanks to God for letting this day end! Tomorrow is a new day. PTL.

Blaze that trail

I wonder where the Lord is leading. It's not that I don't believe that God is leading us. He always is. And it's not that I don't know that everything will work out great. It always does. And I actually really embrace change. (This may be a surprise to you... I didn't say I was super flexible. But I like new things.) And I want to know what the future holds. And I don't mean the future as in 10 or 15 years from now. I mean next week. I mean 3 months from now. I mean next year. I'm just so curious!!

I don't really like it when people post lyrics on their blogs. It just seems so... I don't know... boring. I apologize to all of you out there who may think it's heretical to say such a thing against music in any form. But come on, who wants to read the lyrics to a song on someone's blog? So with that noted, I'm going to post the lyrics to a song. :) Sorry.

Pillar of Fire, in our lives, blaze that trail.

Click to listen.    

There, in the distance--a pillar of fire 
Rumbling like thunder in a dream 
It roars among the pines along the lines 
Of the great Mississippi 

It scatters all the cattle, and rattles the trees 
It skids across the prairie by the moon 
It sings like a choir, this pillar of fire 
And the name of God is the burning tune 

I can see it whirling, swirling, 
Spinning all around 
Upward, onward, homeward bound 
Oh, Jesus, lead me through the night, 
Pillar of Fire 

On through the passes of the mountains it goes 
As bouldered and broken as my heart 
I shiver and cry and I watch as it winds 
To the deepest and the darkest parts 

I can see it whirling, swirling, 
Spinning all around 
Now upward, onward, now homeward bound 
Oh, Jesus, hold me through the night, 
Pillar of Fire 
Where, Oh Lord, are you leading? 
I can get so scared in the night 
My feet are cut and bleeding 
With every step I feel less alive 

Oh, but Pillar of Fire, you blazed this trail 
You've been there every step along the road 
From a barn in Bethlehem to Hell and back again 
You blazed the trail that leads me home 

I can see it whirling, swirling, 
Spinning all around 
Now upward, onward, now homeward bound 
Oh, Jesus, hold me through the night, 
Pillar of Fire 

On to the ocean I follow it down 
Where it sizzles and boils in the waves along the sound 
Oh, Jesus, lead me to your shore 
Pillar of Fire