My husband and I recently took a little trip to Jamaica for some rest and relaxation. We both work stressful, demanding jobs and are raising two little girls so as you can imagine we don’t get much time to ourselves. Coming home we had a connecting flight into Charlotte before our final destination of Jackson.
Travel days are the worst
Once we made it to Charlotte, got through customs, walked from terminal A to Terminal E, and grabbed a bite to eat we were hurrying to make it to our gate at E1 to Jackson leaving at 4:39pm arriving at 5:35pm. So we thought.
Travel days are just the worst. You have to get up hours before your flight. We had actually left the resort that morning at 6:45 for a 10:30 am flight. And let’s not even talk about the nightmare of airport security; fighting crowds of people, waiting in line, practically undressing to only be “patted down” because your Spanx has rounded down and caused an issue of what may be in your shirt. (So I’ve been told, I’m not saying this has ever happened to me.) And you go through all of this just to hurry up and wait! It’s exhausting really.
“We need to detour”
Once we boarded in Charlotte we were both excited that we would be home very soon. About 20 minutes from landing in Jackson, we hear the Captain come on, “Ladies and gentlemen there is a pretty bad storm that has made its way over our flight path into Jackson and we won’t be able to go through it. We need to detour the plane to Montgomery to refuel and let the storm pass.” Sighs are heard all throughout the cabin. I won’t even say what came out of my husband’s mouth but it was not very Christian. As I said to him, “Do you want to fly through the storm and chance that something happens? The pilot says it’s not safe. We don’t have a choice.” But we were crammed into this tiny plane and it was hot, so of course we were agitated.
Not everything is in our control
It took us about 40 minutes to get to Montgomery, another 30 minutes or so to fuel up and then we’re back in the air for a 44 minute flight back to Jackson. What a major inconvenience. We’ve been up since 5:30 am traveling all day and we’re ready to go home!! But not everything is in our control. As much as we didn’t like it, there was certainly nothing that could be done about the storm in our path.
Like life sometimes there are rain delays. Sometimes you have to detour due to the storms of life. As mothers, life can be overwhelming, exhausting, and just down right hard. Sometimes we just can’t go on no matter how hard we try. Sometimes we need to detour and refuel. We have to stop and ask someone to help us with all these passengers. We need help refueling at times. We need others to lend a hand. Sometimes we have to tell those riding along with us that it’s just not safe right now cause Mama needs a break. It’s OK to stop. It’s OK to refuel your mind, your soul, and your body so you can be sure everyone arrives safely. They can wait. It may seem like an inconvenience but they’ll be OK. Remember that you have to put your oxygen mask on first before helping others.
So Mama, put your mask on!
