Standby

My husband and I were visiting our son in Mississippi a few weeks ago. Returning home, we were booked on the last non-stop United flight out of New Orleans Sunday evening. 

On the way to the airport, we got a notification that our flight was delayed. 

Bill had a huge work day the next morning. There aren’t a ton of flights from New Orleans to San Francisco in general, and no other direct flights that evening. Anxiety set in (more for me than for Bill - he was very calm).

When we got to the airport, we asked a United representative what our options were. 

In short, we were screwed. 

There were only two other United flights out with available seats - both connected through Houston but everything was delayed there too. 

A connecting flight was leaving within a half an hour, but it was full. 

After clearing security, my husband suggested we stop at the gate with the full flight leaving right away - just in case. When we got there, pre-boarding was about to start. We discovered we could put ourselves on the standby list for that flight only if we removed ourselves from all other possible flights. We had four minutes to decide. We checked the flight info - everything else was still delayed. The possibility of getting stranded at the airport (in New Orleans or Houston) was real. Stressed, but desperate, we put our names down on the standby list. We were numbers 2 and 3 (some smart fellow had gotten there before us). 

Despite the flight being full, despite boarding taking place, we could get on that flight - but only if 3 people missed it.

And they did. 

We made it to Houston, got on the first available flight to San Francisco (leaving 20 minutes after we landed) and got home safely.

It was kind of a miraculous day for us. (And my husband was a total superstar).

But that’s not the point of the story. 

I couldn’t stop thinking about the three people who didn’t show up to that first flight. They weren’t traveling together - what caused their absence? Were they okay? Had they each made a decision that resulted in missing the flight or had they gotten really unlucky? Were they beating themselves up for being too late for their flight? Or had they, like us, gotten ridiculously lucky and made it on an earlier flight? 

If they were okay, would it even occur to them that their loss/luck/decision was someone else’s fortune? That by missing something, they gave a gift to someone else - even if they didn’t know it? 

How much time and energy have I spent judging myself for a failure, a missed opportunity, a decision - when it might have been a gift all along?