I had to travel to Milwaukee last night. I had to drop my kids off with a good friend for the night since I would be away and made sure I packed everything needed from an air mattress through Fruit Loops and my daughter’s retainer.
I dropped them off, chatted for a few minute and then headed to the airport, squeezing in every mile on I95 just fast enough to keep up with the fastest traffic to get there on time. Things seemed to be working in my favor, even avoiding traffic to the point where I could grab a quick drink to relax me before the flight.
That is, until, I realized that I packed all the kids’ stuff and neglected to pack my suitcase. That’s right – me on the last flight out with no toiletries, underwear, socks, clothes etc and a 6:40 pick up time at my hotel for an all day meeting.
Normally, this is where I would break into a cold sweat. (Make sure I tell you about being stuck in Mumbai on a Friday night in Mumbai or losing my license at the airport in Cleveland). When I arrived at the airport, parked and quickly realized I was SOL, I stook in the lot still and time stood still for a minute. I responded instead of reacted and quickly realized that I had no choice but to get on that plane.
I even went to a far away terminal to try and buy clothes but with Brooks Brothers being the only option, there was no way I was going to pay $125 for a pair of pants – just couldn’t do it.
I breathed and thought about the options. I realized that Walmart is everywhere and despite my antibodies to that store, a couple of calls identified one in WI that was open 24 hours.
Basically, I think that months of leaning into the anxiety instead of fighting it (thanks to meditation), provided me with a pre-set to manage through this little (and it was little in the grand scheme of thing) ordeal. It gave me a pretty good story to work into a possible future comedy set, too – not too bad.
So, all in all everything worked out except for the fact that I feel a little guilty about making fun of Walmart in my comedy routine – but not that bad.
Remember next time you have that “oh crap” moment – a deep breath goes a long way.
Until next time, Marc