Well, today is the day my Thanksgiving vacation begins, so I should be happy. But I should also be writing this post from somewhere over Kentucky using the plane’s WiFi…but I’m not. I’m sitting in the airport. Like I have been for the past 2 1/2 hrs. Because Delta is terrible. Honestly. They are the WORST airline, and something like this happens to me every time I fly with them, which is unfortunately often since DTW is one of their hubs. And my irritation is two-fold because not only did I leave work extra early unnecessarily, but this is also screwing up the plans I had with my family. Ugh, I seriously HATE DELTA AIRLINES. (And apparently I’m not alone…)
Ok, now that that’s off my chest, on to my post…I don’t even remember what I was going to write about anymore to be honest, so I’m just gonna take this post in a new direction. I really love the holidays, but during this season, I have a tendency to have extremely high expectations of how I want everything to be. And since life is well, life, it often throws kinks in to my perfect, sparkly, magic plans (aka, airplanes don’t arrive on schedule!) During the other 10.5 months of the year, I really don’t like when my plans get messed up, but during the holidays, that frustration is taken to a new level. I know that it’s because I set my expectations so high for everything to be just so, and that’s why I get even more upset when things don’t turn out as a I planned. For example, my birthday falls in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I it’s something that I always get really excited for. However, multiple times when I was younger, I would end getting so worked up about my party and wanting everything to be perfect. Then when my party finally rolled around, I’d end up being sick (strep usually, ugh) and spend my birthday in bed. So, while I still haven’t quite learned the lesson of not getting so wrapped up in my own plans, this holiday season, I’m really going to try to not sweat the small stuff. I know that this is something that I can only do with the Lord’s help because as a very detail-oriented person, I tend to get really wrapped up in the small stuff, especially around the holidays! But I know that with Cam and I living out of state from both our families, we have many more flights in our future during the holiday season, which means many more afternoons like this sitting at an airport in annoyance. However, I’m really just going to try to work on keeping things in perspective and realize that little hiccups to my plan are really not that big of a deal. I constantly need to refocus myself on what’s important during this time of the year–being thankful for our many blessings, the gift of God’s love to the world in Christ Jesus, and spending time with our families. Alright…my plane’s FINALLY boarding…Michigan here I come!
(So…I made it home to Michigan safe despite my 2 hour delay. Besides having a little time to relax, blog, and eat a jumbo bag of Skittles at the airport, I ended up having a long phone conversation with my mother-in-law, and it was really nice to catch up with her, especially since I didn’t get a chance to go out to Oregon with Cam this weekend. And then originally, my parents were going to pick me up from the airport and we were going to drive the 2 1/2 hrs to Kalamazoo to pick my sister up from college because she wanted me to see where she was living this year, and then we were going to have to drive the 3+ hrs home. However, due to my flight being late, she ended up getting a ride with one of her friends, and was already with my parents when they picked me up from the airport. So while at the time this change of plans seemed like such a huge inconvenience, it actually ended up being a blessing in disguise in a way and everything worked out…like always does.
I still don’t like Delta airlines though. Just saying.)
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28