I picked up my phone to put it in my purse.  The last thing to pack before I drove to the airport.  Oh…a text message.  From the friend I’m staying with.  Better read it.  Uh oh.  Something happened during the night.  They can’t host me.  So sorry.  Will have to make it another time.  I quickly call the hotel I’m staying at for the rest of my time in Los Angeles.  Can’t check in early.  They’re completely booked.

Now what do I do?

Maybe I can change my flight.  After all, we’re having a major winter storm today.  Maybe I can use that as an excuse?  No again.  The flight is going and I already checked in.  And if I don’t hurry up, I won’t make it.  I’m going to have to fly to LA and deal with it when I get there.

I drive through the snow.  Make it to the gate 5 minutes before boarding starts.  I text my friend Ruth and ask her to pray.  Because maybe you’d think this was an adventure, but I have a hard time when plans change at the last minute like this.  Most specifically plans of where I’m staying.

I’m fine if the weather turns bad and we can’t go where we planned.  Like when Jerry and I were in forest fires at Glacier National Park and could hardly see any of the park.  Or when I thought I was going to the beach on my birthday and it was cloudy and cold.  I’m okay with that.  Can easily adjust.

But for some reason, when it’s where I’m sleeping, I have a more difficult time.  It stresses me out.  Not only that, but I was going early so I could spend time with people.  At the conference I won’t know anyone.  I could feel very lonely.  The start of this trip was meant to buffer that with a visit with friends.  And now I’ve got a 6 hour plane ride to…stress over this?  I don’t want to do that.  So Ruth and I text back and forth about how God is going to turn this into a blessing.  That it will be okay.  In fact, more than okay.  And now it’s time to trust.  It’s time to turn this story into a good one.

We take off in the snow after the plane gets de-iced.  Now it’s time to look only forward, in the direction the plane is going.  Don’t look back, Kathleen.  What was going to be no longer is.  And it’s not the end of the world.  We have credit cards and the internet.

(c) Kathleen Thompson

I read a book during most of the flight, alternating with looking out the window.  Staying in the present moment.  I know it’s important to not look back, but to only look forward.  When my mind wanders, I feel what I want.  I want to head in the same direction I was originally intending to go – away from the city toward the water.

Where could that be?  Ah!!! Santa Barbara! I’ll go there.  It’s a longer drive, but might be just the thing.  So I pray that I will find a place there.

I land in Los Angeles.  Get off the plane.  Find a quiet place and start looking.  Hotel 1?  No.  Hotel 2?  No.  Hotels 3, 4, 5?  No.  Hotel 6?  Bingo.   A small place in the middle of downtown with a farm-to-table restaurant.  It looks like it was made for me.

Booked.  Done.  Blessing #1.  A place to stay in a town that’s on the water.  Now to find it and stay awake for the 2 hour drive.  After all, I’ve been awake since o-dark-thirty.

Google Maps takes me there without a problem.  It’s just what I was looking for.  The people are kind and friendly.  The room is small and comfortable, with even a yoga mat. They have a wine happy hour in the lobby.  And it’s central to everything.  Blessing #1 confirmed.

(c) Kathleen Thompson

Now I go to the wharf and the harbor.  I smell the seafood restaurants and the ocean.  Ahhhhh!! It smells just like home.  I feel even better.  Even though I’m completely across the country, I feel as though a part of home has come with me.  Blessing #2.

I go up to the top of the Tourist Bureau building on the harbor.  A great view of the entire harbor and hills beyond.  A friendly man tells me what I’m looking at and what else there is to see.  Where I could go walking the next day.

Four people strike up a conversation with me at the wine happy hour too.  We have a great time talking about marketing, event planning, the fires, and art.  Between the man at the harbor and them, I don’t feel lonely.  I feel warm.  Like this was a gift just for me.  Blessing #3.

What started out as a crazy mixed-up day, turned into a blessing.  Partly because of the place and the weather.  I mean, when you’ve just missed a foot of snow, and are walking next to palm trees, that’s a blessing.  But there’s another reason too.  It’s because I chose to look forward and not back.  Because even though I couldn’t do what I originally wanted, I could choose something else.  And I did.  I set a clear intention for myself: get out the city, go near the water, and find a place that’s peaceful and grounding.

And that’s what I got.  A lovely small hotel in Santa Barbara, California.  With friendly staff and guests.  Water nearby.  Boats.  And the scent of home.  Blessings galore.

(c) Kathleen Thompson

Have you had a time when your plans abruptly changed?  When you were forced to adjust?  What did you do?  Did you spend your time fretting over what you lost?  I know I’ve spent a lot of time in the past fretting.  And it got me nothing but angry.  Frustrated.  I couldn’t see the blessings that came my way even if they hit me in the face.

Or did you choose to focus your energy on what you could do?  That’s what I did this time.  And crazy, mixed-up and stressful turned into a blessing.

If you’ve had an experience you’d like to share, leave a comment.