We have made it to the last two weeks of the school year! The electric buzz of summer is making it hard for anyone to sit still in class. All of us keep replaying that cursed line from High School Musical 2 in our heads, “Summer, summer, summer, summer.” For many, it is graduation season, and the promise of your new life awaits you, but for others, it’s finally four months of sunbathing and sweet iced tea.
Summer wouldn’t be complete without the annual trip to see family or friends. Which should always include a crazy story from that trip. I have such a story with one of my best friends from last year while traveling back from Texas. Let me start with the statement that the trip itself didn’t hold any ill feelings. We had a wonderful week visiting one of our other friends, and I will always cherish those memories. However, the day we traveled back was a different story.
To begin this story, the friend we were visiting had a check engine light come on the day before we were supposed to leave. Now we all know to check engine lights, usually they mean nothing, and you drive on them for weeks. However, we were staying in a little town in Texas two hours outside of Dallas which is where we were flying out of the next day. All three of us did not feel comfortable driving two hours into the city and then sending our friend two hours back all on a checked engine light. So, we got someone to drive us, problem solved, or so we thought. The day we traveled home started out like any other, we woke up early, packed, ate breakfast, and piled into an acquaintance’s car to make the journey. When we finally pulled into the airport in Dallas storm clouds surrounded the horizon. I started to feel worried because I knew Texas thunderstorms could get nasty. However, I brushed it off and we said goodbye to our friend. We made it through security and to our gate with an hour till boarding.
The minute we sat down a deluge of rain engulfed the airport. I am not talking about rain for twenty minutes and then it’s done. No, this went on for hours and the tarmac was soaked by the time we got the notification that our flight had been canceled. Now we were stuck in an airport in a strange city with our car-less friend two hours away. Panic mode set in. Luckily the friend I was traveling with remained calm the entire time. We went down to the help desk and were able to take the last two seats on a flight to Denver. Then we moved to our new gate. Keep in mind it was still downpouring. We waited for an hour then our gate changed. We waited for two more hours then our gate changed again. Finally, I had reached my stress limit and thought food would help. It didn’t and I only took a few bites of some French fries. Then it stopped raining and our gate locked in. Unfortunately, the crew for our flight was late coming from another flight in southern Texas. So, we waited…and waited…and waited and made a friend. By the time we got on the plane, it was six hours after our original flight was supposed to take off. When we landed, I had a migraine and was starving, but we made it home.
That would be my crazy summer story, whenever our friends ask us what mood we dislike each other the most for my travel friend always says, Lauren’s stressed airport mood. I concur.
All this being said, traveling is fun! Please don’t cancel your summer plans because of my story. Now, I look back at it and laugh because life is full of twists and turns. I think, and I say this especially to the graduating seniors, that life needs a little bit of craziness in it. That’s why it’s called life.
One of my favorite quotes comes from a movie called Mom’s Night Out and I think everyone should hear it, not just seniors. “Life is not about a parking space. It’s not about God taking away all our problems and making everything perfect. It’s about finding the meaning and the joy and the purpose in all the chaos and crazy. It’s knowing God is with you on the good days and the bad ones.” -Sondra, Mom’s Night Out.
Chaos will always be there but then so will God. So, try and live a life full of crazy summer stories!
Happy Summer everyone!