Stop and Smell the Lemons!

We are all experiencing things differently as we go through these days of uncertainty and sickness. How do we deal with all of the issues and problems we are facing? Sometimes, life has a way of slowing us down, and right now, we have all had to slow down our hectic lives as a necessity to stay safe from the coronavirus.

What can we do other than our work from home? I have been cleaning out places in the house that tend to get a little cluttered. I have even started sewing, making masks for my daughter in law who works at the hospital and my daughter, who works at a doctor's office. Today I also started trying to declutter my computer. What a task!

My attention span is about the size of a gnat, so I have to read and reread things as I go. I came across this today, and it was something that made me laugh as I remember that day in my life six years ago when I had to slow down and smell the lemons. What seemed to be a big deal that day is nothing compared to the issues we face today, but I hope for a minute it will make you smile.

Stop And Smell The Lemons!

Sometimes when we have lemons and don’t want lemonade, we just need to stop and smell the lemons! 

Once upon a time, (Ooops, I forgot this is not a Fairy Tale but the absolute truth.), there lived a nice “older woman” in the small town of Yulee. Yulee, most people don’t even know it exists – unless they are going to Amelia Island and see the sign on I-95 close to the Georgia line that says Amelia Island, Yulee, and Callahan. Now, I don’t leave Yulee often, not that I am trapped here, and I do like to travel.

So, this is my lemon travel story. (The smell of lemon is said to enhance your performance and attitude, sending you to a positive place). Let’s see how positive this trip is!

I was looking forward to my trip to HITEC, which was taking place in June 2014 in Los Angeles. All packed and ready to go, I thought my flight was at 1:30, so I planned to leave at noon, which would give me thirty minutes to arrive at the airport and an hour to get through security and arrive at my gate. I was strolling through the airport by 12:30 and went quickly through security, thank you PRECHK!. One gentleman was in a big hurry, so I let him get in front of me. His flight was leaving soon.

I made it through security and stopped to look up at the screens to find my gate. I found it and also found out that it was already boarding, no problem, it is quick to get to that gate, and I was even on time to board in my correct zone. The gentleman I had let go ahead of me was in the zone after me, small world. Today is my Lucky Day. I have the PRECHK boarding pass, Zone A, and the flight was full, so I saved $25 by checking my luggage at the gate.

I was sitting on the plane, making small talk with my neighbor when the engine started, but we didn’t move. After several very long minutes, we finally start moving but in the wrong direction. We are backing up when we hear that dreaded announcement. We are backing out more to keep the plane cooler until we take off, which is delayed due to storms in Atlanta.

Now, I don’t know what it is about Atlanta, but there must a problem with that magnetic pull that affects all planes within a 300-mile radius. After spending two hours on the sauna flight, we were told that our plane has some mechanical problems – I think we had already guessed that - and we would be deplaning. We need to go to the desk quickly, and they will book us on another flight.

You guessed it, the next leg of the journey is run, rush and push all people out of the way because you know your flight is more important than anyone else. Finally, it is my turn to speak to the kind person at the counter. He told me he didn’t have anything but would make a call to a “Fly the friendly skies” representative and see if they can get me on their flight to LA. “Yes, they can. Go straight across (where that two-mile line is), and they will get you on a flight to Houston and then LA. Don’t worry about your luggage; we will send it over.” Yes, it is definitely my lucky day. The stars are shining down on me. Awesome.

I go over to “Fly the friendly skies,” and what a great deal they offer me, they can get me to Houston tonight and LA tomorrow morning by 9 AM. “Oh, that won’t work for you? Sorry, check back ‘over there.’ Oh, your luggage! No, we never got it. It is probably still ‘over there.’ You know how slow it is to get things done! “

Now I am standing in an even longer line ‘over there’ back where I started. They can also get me to LA by 9 AM tomorrow, but they will be glad to give me a room – My head actually rotated all the way around… A Room… I live fifteen minutes away, where I have a whole house. I don’t need a room, I need a flight to LA. “Sorry that is the best we can do.” Oh, yes, your luggage. Go down to baggage claim and see if it is there.” Leave the secure area? I ask. – “Yes, you aren’t going anywhere tonight.”

Frustrated, it is now 5 hours since my flight should have left – 30 minutes before I would have landed in LA, and I am in the luggage claim area, where everyone is great, looking for my luggage. They looked, the supervisor looked, and my luggage is nowhere to be found. “Sorry, it could be here in Jax, or Atlanta, Houston, or LA.”

 I called my boss to let her know I cannot leave until tomorrow morning. She told me to call the 800 number and ask for a supervisor. I told her it wouldn’t do any good, I had checked with everyone already, and they had no flights.” Oh, yes, they do. Call a supervisor.”  So, I did, and after dropping my call four times after I had been on hold forever, (my phone was on its last leg since I had been here all day, it was already doing its final beep-beep) I got a very nice supervisor who told me, “Get back to the gate there is a plane boarding right now and she would get me on it.”

Lesson learned here, always call the 800 number because they know more than the people who are at the airport desks. (This only applies to airport service, not your cable provider ??.)

Once again, I am strolling through the airport at a breakneck pace. I have no luggage, no ticket, no current boarding pass (only the one I used earlier). I started to explain, but she sent me on through and said, you are fine. I made it by running to the plane, last one on board, but finally made it to Atlanta, where our connecting flight was only delayed an hour!

Finally, I see the beautiful lights of LA. What an impressive sight tonight! We landed, and I thought since my luggage started early that morning that I would check, just in case it had arrived ahead of me.

Have you ever been to LAX? I went down to the bowels of the airport only to find I had no luggage at Terminal 6 – However, they told me it might be at Terminal 7. Ok, that is not far. I’m at 6, and I need to go to 7, so how hard is that? Right next door, they said! Now, in Yulee, right next door maybe a few hundred feet and I am no sissy, so glancing around where there were several people asleep on the floor and sidewalk, I stepped outside.

Walking outside in the dark at 1 AM in LA by myself was an awesome experience causing my heart to thump loudly and my feet to move quickly past all those doors -6-6-6-6-6-7A-7-7-7-7 finally one was open, and I went inside. Everyone in the luggage area was very kind. I visited all the interior rooms full of luggage with them so that if it was there, I could easily recognize it. The rooms had every color, shape, and size of luggage - but not mine. So, they told me I had to return to Terminal 6 to file my missing luggage claim. Seriously? So, I went outside again past the sidewalk sleepers to -7-7-7-7-7A-6-6-6-6-6 and filled out my forms. (All these doors with the same number? Yes, and they are not close together.)

By now, I am really having fun! Time to take a Taxi and get to the hotel. I am tired and have been up since 5 AM, so with the three-hour time difference; I have been up for 24 hours. I waited for 30 minutes to catch a Taxi – a short ride- beautiful hotel, flawless check-in, and the staff were great! Did I need someone to help me with my luggage ---- no, I travel light!!

With the key in hand, I got on the elevator, off on my floor, and went down a series of three twisting hallways. Finally, at last, my destination tonight; I am at the door to my room where a nice bath and soft bed are waiting. They were still waiting when my key didn’t work! I had to go back – yep, down three corridors to a phone by the elevator. They told me that someone will be right up, so I just needed to wait at my room. 

He arrives with a smile on his face, so kind and so patient. He inserts my key…just to see if I didn’t use it right, I guess.

He said, “No, it doesn’t work for me either; let me try the master key.” Still smiling, his master key doesn’t work either. He now has to go back down three hallways and downstairs to get the machine to open the door. Ok, no problem, it isn’t his fault, so I am patient. I understand these things since I have worked in hospitality for many years at beach resorts where salt air plays havoc on locks.

He returns and has a radio, and someone will talk him through the task of opening the door with his little machine. Hey, I say, “It’s your lucky day, I can help you, and I have done this before at the hotels where I worked.” “Oh no, he said, you are a guest.”

I was thinking, Yes, I am, but I know how to do that, and I am an exhausted guest. He was on his radio and calling, “Come in seven.” Finally, after many unsuccessful attempts explaining over the radio how the machine works, #7 came to the rescue and got the door open. Easy he says, and I gave him my best smile.

The door is unlocked, but they can’t get it to open. Finally, the two of them push with their shoulders and get it open. Guess what?? Inside this door, there are two other doors. They must use force with the inside door to open it as well. Once inside, we were greeted with the smell of something terrible. I’m beyond tired, want a bath, and I am ready to go to bed. I’m not a picky person, but I could not stay there.

My new-found friend called the front desk, “Guest is not happy with the room.” Not happy, how about I can’t breathe in the room, not to mention that at the age of 69 my shoulder and arm bones might be a little fragile if I try to open the door with force and I am too fat to pick my heavy leg up and kick it open. They moved me to another room (Back down the three halls to the elevator and then rewinding two more corridors to the room where he was able to open the door with his master key. He was amiable and told me he would just slide my new keys under the door so that I could get some rest. The next day the other door was opened, and I had a beautiful suite.

The first airline had given me a bag that had a tee-shirt and other necessities in it. Finally, my teeth were brushed, and I had a nice warm bath plus a clean tee-shirt. What an awesome day!

I set my alarm so that I could sleep a couple of hours; then I went to meet the others for breakfast in my clothes from the day before and no makeup or hair spray. That was not a pretty sight with wrinkles in my clothes and lines two deep and four across on my face. My friend loaned me some makeup, and we went to the conference. I smiled as people passed by or stopped to see Datavision. It was another awesome day, after all.

That afternoon we went shopping for some clothes since we had dinner with clients that evening and I think two days in the other ones had been enough. So, now with new clothes and borrowed makeup, I felt like a new person. My luggage arrived later that evening while we were at dinner.

The rest is history. It was a fantastic trip. LA is beautiful, HITEC was great, our booth looked terrific. I saw old friends and made new ones.

In the grand scheme of life, these were all minor issues and made life “interesting for a day.” No one was hurt, and no one died.

Sometimes we just need to slow down and smell the lemons. (I heard it would help you keep a positive attitude!)