Life Lesson: It will all work out

I’m sitting in the Nome, Alaska airport right now, waiting for my flight back home. The past 36 hours were a bit stressful because we weren’t sure if I was going to be able to catch my original flight back home. The camp where I was staying was completely fogged in and the cargo plane that I was supposed to take out of camp, decided that it wasn’t safe to fly due to the weather conditions. Normally, I would have been elated to have more time to spend with Blake, but Layla was waiting for me to pick her up from the doggie hotel and I was scheduled to work Saturday and Sunday. I got all worked up about how I had these responsibilities and felt helpless being stuck in the middle of nowhere without cell phone service.

I wasn't going anywhere in this fog!

Luckily, Blake is my calm companion and reassured me that Layla would be fine spending another night at the doggie hotel, someone would be able to cover my shift and I would be able to get my flight changed. Guess what, all of these things took ending up working out. I used the emergency land line to make my calls, let my family know that I wouldn’t be flying back on time & was able to get Alaska Airlines to waive their “change-ticket” fee. I had got myself all worked up because I was afraid and anxious that things weren’t working out how I had planned.

This seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life. I am a planner. I like to know what is going to happen, when it will happen and avoid any problems that may take place. Guess what? The universe has more power than us “planners.” I felt so helpless being stuck at camp because there was nothing that I could do about the foggy, windy, rainy weather. All that I could do was try to keep a positive outlook and hope that I would be able to make it home safely.

Looking back at how I handled the situation, I wish that I had remained more calm and trusted that I would make it out of camp when the timing was right. I wish that I wouldn’t have acted upset towards Blake and instead been sweet and endearing during our extra time together. What I can do now is reflect on how I handled the situation and better prepare myself for the next time that things don’t go as planned.

What did I do with my extra 24 hours at camp? Since I missed dinner while making all of my phone calls, I went to the kitchen and cooked up some home made broccoli and potato soup. Few things calm my nerves as much as chopping vegetables and preparing a soup from scratch. My soup turned out delicious and I curled up on the cot with Blake and watched “The King’s Speech.” Did anyone else find it kind of boring? We turned it off half-way through. I slept in this morning, went for a run, took a shower and packed up my bags. I also spent a lot of time envisioning myself making it out of camp safely and flying back home.

Blake inspecting the plane before I was supposed to take off

The cargo plane was supposed to make it into camp today, but once again was unable to due to weather. Blake and I had to make the decision of whether or not I should fly back to Nome in a small 2-person Cessna plane with one of the camp owners. We both thought that it was risky, but also didn’t know when the cargo plane would actually make it into camp. After hours of watching the weather and debating if it was worth it, we secured my seat with Alaska Air and took the scariest flight of my life.

Now, I am not a bad flier. I have (up until now) never been scared to go in an airplane or helicopter. By the looks of the foggy weather and the tiny airplane, I was more scared for that half hour flight than almost anything in my life. I trusted that the pilot wouldn’t fly if he didn’t have full faith that we would land safely, but this little voice in my head kept telling me that it was too risky. On the flip side, I wanted to get back home so I could pick up Layla and make it to work on Sunday. I climbed into that little plane and envisioned us safely landing in Nome.

Do see what the fuel gage said!?!

While flying, I decided that I should probably learn how to land planes and get some lessons from Blake on how to land helicopters so in the face of an emergency, I’d know what to do. We made it to Nome, safe and sound. I was relieved and felt that this experience was a lesson that the universe was offering for me to learn and grow from.

Lessons that I learned over the past 36 hours:

1. Just because you plan something, doesn’t mean that it will actually happen
2. How you react to a situation creates your experience, not the actual situation itself
3. Things that feel like a big deal to you in the present moment, will end up working themselves out and most likely forgotten in the future

I try to learn from my mistakes and experiences so that I don’t repeat them in the future. I’m only human and therefore, will never be perfect. This trip was exhilarating, rejuvenating and taught me a few life lessons. Maybe I’ll go back to Alaska next summer? Only time can tell.

Readers: What is a life-lesson that you’ve recently learned?