I watch as my connecting flight rolls up to the gate where I will catch the last leg of my trip for home. Flying Southwest, I seldom seem to have a straight through flight for the time and price that I need. In addition to that, I am catching my connection in Las Vegas, not my favorite airport. It is large, usually crowded and I always have to change terminals.
This time I have a little over 2 hours until my next flight. Plenty of time to walk to the next terminal for my connection and get a bite of lunch. It is annoying to pay $12.00 for a turkey sandwich and a bottle of water. For what the water cost I could have bought an entire flat of water at the grocery store. I don’t like buying airport food for the price factor but this time my stomach was protesting the lack of food that it had been given earlier in the morning.
I look for a place to sit and eat, another annoyance. It seems that most airports don’t provide a place to sit down and eat near the gates, some have little tables that you have to stand at. Today, those are all full. So I quickly try to spot an empty seat near the gate where my plane is to leave. They are few and far between but I finally locate one. Sitting down and getting my bags situated, I unwrapped my sandwich, opened my bottle of water (or is it liquid gold!) and precede to eat. About half way into my sandwich I feel something drip down onto my top. I look down and there it is! Some sort of oil dressing that had been on my sandwich, feeling the need to obey gravity and search for a lower surface. Somehow, it found its way through the paper that was around my sandwich and out onto my top! My first thought…..”great!”. Now this was not an excited, happy “great” but a disgusted “great”. Oh well, hopefully the sweater I was also wearing would somehow cover the spot and no one would notice.
Gathering my things and making my way to the restroom for one final stop before boarding my flight, I dug into my carry on bag looking for my lipstick. There, in the bottom was the remaining half of a delicious pumpkin muffin that I had purchased at the Houston airport. Ugh, it is smashed like a pancake by my wallet, iPad and book that I have in my carry-on. Oh well, just another casualty for the day.
The airport is noisy. I am not sure if it is the large room where people are gathered with food venders selling their wares, the slot machines that don’t seem to give up any of their cash to weary travelers or the loud speaker announcing messages over the air waves, but it only irritates an already active head ache that I was nursing. I am annoyed.
I sat down again at my gate to wait for my flight to board. I decided to try out the camera on my iPad. I am sure people watching me were wondering what this crazy woman was doing but oh well, just another day in the life of……………..me.
I log onto the airports Internet and check my emails. There it is, a blog that I subscribe to and I open it to read. “One of the Key Secrets about Joy……….”. Really? I mean, all I want to do is complain and now I am reading this email about Joy?!!!! Reading on………………”Joy is a choice you make EVERY DAY”. Ouch.
So, now I think about joy and what I am thankful for. Actually, I’d much rather complain, have a good ol’ girl grip session, but I know that really does not get me anywhere. Yes, get my mind off of all that I don’t like and think about what I do like, what I am thankful for, do I choose joy? Yes, or I try to.
Airplanes that take off and land safely……that is certainly something to be thankful for.
When others around me are not feeling well or dealing with life and death illnesses, I am healthy.
Another big thing to be thankful for.
And, tomorrow is a new day where I will be rested and up to the tasks at hand. Yes, I will choose joy, even if it might be hard to find at the moment, but I will try.
As selfishness and complaint pervert the mind, so love with its joy clears and sharpens the vision.
Helen Keller
Kathi Ann Photography 
Thank God for electric devices! What did we do when there was none? ❤ Ya!