Life One Day at a Time

I vaguely remember some verses in the Bible that say things like "Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself," and "Do not say things such as 'tomorrow I will do this' for you do not know what tomorrow will bring.'" (Does the Bible say that or is it just some random proverb I picked up somewhere?) Well, I learned quite well the truth of not counting on tomorrow.

For the last year or so, I've been living one-event-to-the-next. Last spring, I was working towards the end of May, when I would move into the hotel and all my friends would arrive. Once all my friends arrived, the next event was when they all left at the beginning of August. People began asking then how I felt about returning to the US, and my response was, "I still have a mini-vacation, a retreat, a conference, a real vacation, and a weekend in Paris before I return!" Once I returned, it was one trip after the next, and I found I couldn't plan (much less think about) the things that were further ahead than about one week.

So whenever someone has asked me how I feel about getting to Africa, my response has been, "I still have X Y Z to get through first!" After the wedding was finished this weekend, and I had changed out of the bridesmaid dress into jeans, climbed into the car to ride back to Alabama, I thought, "I have nothing next. Africa is next. Wow. I'm going to Africa."

I've been telling everyone that I am leaving for Africa on March 29. That's what my itinerary says. My itinerary also says that the reservations are confirmed. Well...thus begins my lesson in "Tomorrow will worry about itself."

Being the good little traveler that I am, I went to United's website to check-in and pre-pay for bags. (With as many bags as I have, that little save-$5-per-bag deal might add up to a free bag!) There are two confirmation numbers on my itinerary (sent by the travel agent for my company), so I typed in the first one. The page told me that it could not find that reservation and to please try a different way. Since I didn't purchase the ticket, I didn't have a credit card number to put in. I tried the second confirmation number, and it pulled up the final leg of my flight, from Frankfurt to the Big Continent. Well, I didn't want to check in for that one, I wanted to check in for the flight leaving Alabama. No go. It simply wouldn't work.

So I called United and explained my troubles. The nice man tried every way possible to find my reservation. He said told me that both the confirmation numbers I had were both pulling up the flight from Frankfurt, and he had no record whatsoever of me being on the flight from Alabama to DC or from DC to Frankfurt.

Time to call the travel agent.

Except that it was Sunday night, and the travel agent wasn't in the office. Nor was the person in my company's headquarters who had arranged things with the travel agent. I called our emergency office to let them know the situation. He informed me that there was nothing that could be done about it on a Sunday night, and unfortunately...I would not be flying out tomorrow morning.

So much for saying, "Tomorrow I will do this" and "Tomorrow I will do that." I sure thought I would be flying on March 29, but that is not the case. For months, I've been living from week-to-week. For the last month, it's been from every-three-days to the next. In the last week, I think I've moved on to just living day-to-day. On Saturday, it was "just get back to Alabama." On Sunday morning, it was "just get through today and get on the plane tomorrow." On Sunday afternoon, well, it became, "just grace for today. We'll deal with tomorrow when tomorrow gets here." (Does anyone else here Scarlett O'Hara saying, "Well, fiddle-dee-dee, I'll just think about that tomorrow"?)

It's March 29th, the "tomorrow" that I've been waiting for. I'm not flying today. I may be flying tomorrow. I'll keep you posted. UPDATE: The travel agent just re-ticketed me to fly tomorrow, so I should be good to go now.

As for today, I'm going to sit back, relax, and just enjoy it.