One Secret To Enjoying Life

I had an evening flight. My son dropped me off in the middle of the afternoon at LAX. After getting through security, which was pleasant by the way, since I had so much extra time. Side thought: Maybe my husband is right about getting to the airport early? I remembered back to getting upset with him for being too early the last time we flew together and had an hour to kill before our flight. Don’t judge me, I know I can be a “difficult” wife. I guess I should suck it up and tell him he was right. I hate being wrong! Okay, but this post is not about that!

On with my story:

I was in LAX hours before my flight so, I grabbed a cup of coffee, found a place to settle at the eating area, pulled out my laptop and got to work. Time flew like lightening. Suddenly, I noticed the battery on my computer was low–6% power low. I cannot get on the plane with a laptop out of juice! No way! My plan for my flight was to write and I had to find an outlet to charge the battery.

Find. An. Outlet. FAST.

I moved all my stuff to another table (which we all know isn’t easy when you’ve got your luggage) and plugged into an outlet. It didn’t work. Ahhhhhh. I asked an employee and they directed me to another outlet which did work. Whew! Disaster averted.

I sat as my laptop was charging. My flight was boarding in about 30 minutes. When it was time to head to my gate my computer was only 50% charged.

I needed more power! More!

I put away all my stuff and headed for my gate. As I walked up to the gate, it was crowded. Really crowded, as in, there was not one seat available, and people sitting on the floor, AND a large line had already formed for boarding. I didn’t care, I was on a hunt for an outlet.

I am charging this computer before I get on that plane!

I saw a teenager on the floor charging her phone. There had to be other outlets I NEED TO FIND ONE. I made my way through the crowd. Everyone looked bored, irritated, and downright put out with their whole waiting-to-fly-experience. I was the only one walking around, and therefore, it seemed like all eyes were on me.

I was maneuvering through the people seated and that’s when it happened! I have no idea how it happened, but somehow I tripped. My bags went flying. I went flying. My landing? It was on top of my bags.

Woman down.

Down flat!

If everyone wasn’t already watching me, they are now! The gentlemen I landed in front of stood up and asked, “Are you okay?” And then, here’s the absolute best thing that happened, his wife who was on the phone paused her conversation to say, “A girl just fell.” A GIRL! She called me a GIRL. This is awesome! It was hard to hold back my laughter as I lay on my bags. “I’m fine,” I said through the chuckles “thank you.”

And I got up as gracefully and as tactfully as I could, and continued my hunt for an outlet, but not before I walked through the crowd–feeling all eyes on me–and went off to the side to have a good laugh.

It was one of those moments I wished I wasn’t alone for and had someone else to laugh with. I sent a text to my daughter and son-in-law, “I just fell in the airport! I can’t stop laughing. I wish someone was here to share that with.” My daughter replied, “No way, I would have been so embarrassed.” My son-in-law texted, “You could be a viral video within the hour.” This made me laugh even more.

And now, here’s the point of my story…

and one major ingredient to enjoy life to the fullest:

Laugh at yourself.

We are all just human. We all do stupid things. We all make mistakes. We all fall down. Okay, maybe just me. But we all fall, in one way or another. When you do, pick yourself up, have a laugh, and move on. How can you really enjoy life if you don’t laugh at yourself?

Laugh and enjoy being you.

Oh, and the teenager charging her cell phone finally got up to board and I plugged in my laptop. Mission complete!

Until next time, laugh, move forward, and complete the mission God has for you.