Friday July 2nd, 2010 – I woke up this morning with a new spring in my step. Today, I am Houston, TX bound for the first time. I am spending July 4th weekend with my sweetie and his family. I packed the night before while being coached (over the phone) by a professional, my sweetie coaches, football. As he stated, his major boyfriend duty was to make sure I went to bed with enough time to not be cranky in the morning. Mission accomplished.
Leaving for work, I said my goodbyes to my pets. My plan was to head for the airport after work. Auston my dog I could tell sensed I was leaving. He stayed even closer to me and gave me those sad puppy dog eyes that normally melt my heart. My cat Tigger on the other hand was more concerned about his next meal.
I was so excited about the day. I arrived almost 45 minutes early into the office. This will be my sweetie and my second away trip, as a couple and once again outside of me booking my flights he is planning our entire itinerary. See, for the average person this would not seem to be a big deal. However for me, there is never anything average. Professionally I assisted in and planned complex events that hosted from less than 10 or more VIPs to thousands of attendees weekly. From the venue selection, to the vendors and fine tuning of the guest list, so me having the faith in and ability to trust him completely in the planning of our trips activities, once again tells and speaks volumes.
With arriving to work early I had time to check in with my sweetie and my sister-friends. After which, I began tracking the weather conditions out of Houston and my flight. Well, what I thought was my flight. It turns out I was tracking the wrong flight all day! However I will get into how I found out about that later. I didn’t get upset however when I saw that there were delays due to extreme weather conditions (Thunderstorms and flash flooding.) I just began praying for the passengers and flight crew. I giggled with my co-workers saying I would be able to finish a book or get some writing done while I waited for my flight to arrive. Little did I know my attitude through the entire ordeal would be a testimony in it self.
When I got off from work I had two options from Penn Station to get to the JFK connector station; the subway or the LIRR. I decided after getting some sage advice from a co-worker to not take the LIRR. Instead I took the less crowded and less expensive E train (subway) to catch the AirTrain to JFK International Airport, NY Mass Transit’s greener alternative to get the world famous portal to the world. My total commuter cost to JFK was $7.50 ($2.50 for the subway and $5.00 for the AirTrain fare.)
Walking to the E train, talk about perfect timing the train arrived just as I was going through the turnstile. The complete ride was an experience. After only one stop I was able to get a seat. By that one stop I knew for a fact that I was on a train with a host of characters. From the African American young man dressed as Edward Scissorhands with his reflecting contacts, sporting two cell phones, to the little Hispanic girl that instinctively used my shoulder as a pillow; I told her mother I didn’t mind. As a child I remember doing the same thing myself while on long train ride J
When I arrived to my destination Supthin Blvd; I was already pumped because I knew I would have some stories to write about. Getting on the AirTrain I checked “my flight” again. The report was showing the plane was getting ready to taxi leaving Houston for New York. I called my sweetie who was picking me up from airport to tell him the status and he was still shocked at how calm I was and the fact I was giggling, though it looked there was almost 4 hour delay. I was just really enjoying myself. The AirTrain takes you for a full loop around JFK and I was taking in the beauty of the airport and its terminals.
When I reached my terminal, I again found joy just ridding the moving walkway. The inner kid in me wanted to ride it again on the opposite side. I didn’t though. I took a picture at the top of the escalator before going into check in and when I got my boarding pass was kind of shocked to see my ticket said my flight was leaving on time. The funny thing is that actually ignored it and checked my bag, however was led to look up at the flight board and back at my boarding pass and was pleasantly surprised to see my flight was leaving on time. I had arrived to the airport within 90 minutes of departure. My exact words were “Glory to God!”
After calling my sweetie to give him the update and my sister-friends, I sat back and marveled at God. Though I had made the error in tracking the wrong flight, he still showed me favor. My entire flight was wonderfully smooth. I know that is a testimony to how I maintained my attitude and through the power of prayer done by my intercessors. The flight time was cut from 3 hours and 50 minutes to just 2 hours and a half. I arrived in Houston almost an entire hour early.
© 2010, Lela Jefferson Fagan. All rights reserved.
