When Everything Went Wrong Except for What Really Mattered

I remember back in the day when I loved to fly. Plane travel was exciting.

Now plane travel feels like a beating and I'm often a candidate for "Most Likely to be Taken Off the Plane" because of frustration.

This was especially true when flying American Airlines last week. You might say that only an idiot would book a flight on American Airlines while it goes through bankruptcy.

I am that idiot.

"Maintenance delays" - real or otherwise - held us on the tarmac, on the plane, for over an hour on the flight out.

That was frustrating. Even more frustrating without coffee. I'd decided to wait and get coffee at the airport - a decision by default, really, after getting lost on the way to the airport thanks to reconfigured highways. I'm a terrible nighttime driver, so navigating construction signs and barrels in the wee hours of the morning resulted in an unwelcome tour through the mid-city suburbs of Dallas-Fort Worth.

I raced to the gate and learned that Terminal A at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport didn't have a Starbucks anywhere near my gate. My ortho boot and I, which caused a great deal of suspicion and a full-body pat-down at security screening, weren't up for the hike.

That's how I ended up sitting, fuming, on the plane for over an hour without any coffee. Nor had I eaten any breakfast.

Non-flight related, rainstorms upon arrival frizzed out my hair and splattered my silk blouse. Plus the Starbucks in Terminal T at the Atlanta airport has relocated out of Terminal T.

My return home, the same day, was no less uneventful. We were delayed nearly an hour leaving. At least I had time to grab a salad from a concession stand - I just wish they'd told me to grab a dressing packet, too. Dull, dull salad, but I was hungry.

It was after 10 pm before I got back home. I'd left at 4:45 am that morning. A very.long.day.

A very long day where everything went wrong. Everything, that is, except what mattered - the meeting I went to Atlanta to attend.

We had a fantastic strategy session. I met leaders from my firm's other offices and had a chance to sit in, and contribute to, some high level discussions.

Greatness.

It's a good lesson in keeping perspective and in looking for the silver lining, however faint, in a dark situation.