I recently met up with a dear friend for a quick trip through some of Oregon’s coastline and wineries. She and I have been friends ever since kindergarten when we rode the bus together and laughed about things that girls laugh about. We talked about boys, classes and the events of each day, and dreamt aloud about our futures as our bus bounced over the gravel roads to and from school. Careers, life choices and miles created distance between us and it was the first time in decades we spent more than a few hours together.
Throughout the trip, I felt so many moments of gratitude for experiencing so many good things. The opportunity for reconnection and rejuvenation was born from lots of laughs, great food, different scenery (it was my first time to Oregon), marveling at some of Earth’s most exotic inhabitants at the aquarium, participating in a wine tasting event and not being on a schedule.
It was time to leave. Getting back to Phoenix, where my German shepherd Rudi was vacationing with my best friend, proved to be a challenge. The inbound plane got a late start as they needed to change a tire. Then, that flight experienced a medical emergency and upon landing in Portland, we had to wait as the medical and maintenance crews restocked and resecured the plane’s medical supplies and equipment. Next, our first attempt at landing in Denver was aborted due to wind shear. It was touch and go as far as making my connection, but I made it! After making a fast dash to my connecting flight, we had to wait as the ground crew repaired a seal on a wing.
It’s amazing to think about what needs to line up in order for us to get from one place to another. There are 5,400 public airports across the country with approximately 28,000 commercial flights carrying over 3 million passengers every day. Additionally, all of these passengers also come with about 1.3 million pieces of checked luggage too! Every flight requires people with incredible amounts of skill, knowledge and diligence. These components are ideally partnered with passengers who possess flexibility, attentiveness and perspective.
My close friends and I will sometimes remind one another that much of what we encounter can luckily be categorized as first world problems. During the trip, I experienced moments where I encountered them. I swear the young people working at the coffee shop in Nephi were on their first day of their jobs as they handed me a watery-looking and watery-tasting iced Americano at 6:15 a.m. The kind hotel manager who profusely apologized while attempting to check me in and being on the phone with a disgruntled former employee. After ending that call, he apologized several more times and gave me a bottle of water and offered me a candy bar. On the first leg of my return flight, I received a free upgrade to first class. The flight attendant took our meal order and I opted for the salad. When it came time to bring out the meals, she told me that “they didn’t know what happened to that last salad” and offered me the other meal options or she also had the option to offer me compensation. Really? I got a free upgrade to first class and now it’s possible to get paid because they lost a salad.
This trip provided so many opportunities for learning and gratitude. I never thought about the necessary process for restocking and resecuring medical supplies on an airliner. I felt gratitude it was not me that needed medical attention. My friend taught me that something that sounded good on the menu (carpaccio) would’ve actually been a no-go for me, as my husband used to say he had to cook my steak to the same doneness as shoe leather. The aquarium taught me about life under the sea and their interactive exhibits allowed us to touch anemones and sea stars. My best friend taught me that I don’t give Rudi enough credit when encountering new situations and I need to chill out and not be such a helicopter mom.
This trip left me with more than memories – it left me with perspective. From reconnecting with a lifelong friend to witnessing the quiet complexity behind every safe landing, I was reminded how much we take for granted. The people, the systems, the small kindnesses and even the inconveniences all have a role to play. What stood out most was how easy it is to label something a problem when, in reality, it’s often a privilege. A delayed flight, a missing salad, a watery cup of coffee – these are small things in an extremely big, very capable world. Gratitude doesn’t require perfect conditions; it simply requires paying attention. When we do, even a complicated trip home can feel like part of something pretty remarkable.
Darla Tyler-McSherry is the founder and visionary of Ask in Earnest. Visit askinearnest.org for more information on the Ask in Earnest initiative.
This article originally appeared on Farmers Advance: The privilege of inconvenience: Lessons in gratitude
Reporting by Darla Tyler-McSherry, Farmers’ Advance / Farmers Advance
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