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Black Hills
Tag: dailyprompt
Not sleeping in an airport
What’s the worst travel experience you’ve ever had?
I live in a small city with a regional airport. There are few direct flights, so I usually have to connect in Denver or Dallas. Getting back home is not always easy. The flights back to my city are often delayed for one reason or another. I am not a frequent traveler, but in the seven years I’ve lived here, my return flight has been delayed overnight three times.
Four years ago, when I was returning from a business trip, my flight from Denver was delayed several times. I think it was because they were waiting for an airline employee to show up. The delay was so long that I could have rented a car and driven back home. They finally canceled the flight around midnight.
The gate agent told us we could get in line to talk to another airline agent. That line was too long! No way was I going to wait in line for hours when I already had been waiting for hours.
Side note: I was traveling alone. I had rotatator cuff surgery a few weeks before, and my right arm was in a sling.
The gate agent did not say anything about overnight accommodations, not even about cots for us to sleep on. Later, I found out that some of the passengers were sent to a room with cots and blankets.
I’m pretty familiar with the Denver airport. I went out to the arrival/departure area where you can catch ground transportation. I used my phone to see if I could find a hotel for the night. Nothing afforable was available. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law live outside Denver. I debated calling them but didn’t want to be a bother.
I went back inside and walked around a bit. I saw a lot of people trying to sleep in the walkways near the closed restaurants and shops on a level of the airport just above the security screening area.
I found a spot and tried to sleep. With an injured shoulder. With the loud sounds of workers cleaning. With the nervousness that comes with being a woman alone among strangers.
Morning could not come quickly enough. Sleep was not happening.
Forever Friends
What’s a chapter of your life you’d title “The Hard Years” — and what got you through it?
I call my teenage years “The Hard Years” of my life. My parents divorced when I was twelve, leaving Mom with seven kids ranging from sixteen down to three. She had another child when I was thirteen. Mom had custody of us, and, unfortunately, she made some selfish and short-sighted decisions.
I was blessed with one older brother and sister, three younger sisters, and two younger brothers. I have to admit that I didn’t think of the youngest as blessings at the time.
My siblings, especially those closest to me in age, went through the tough things with me. (My older sister Cindy is two years older, and my sister Amy is a year younger than me.)
My sister Cindy was like a second mom to all of us, making sure we all got ready in time for school.
We moved the summer after my sophomore year and started going to a new school. Amy was with me. Midway through my junior year, Mom moved us to another town. Again, my sister Amy was with me, hating the new school as much as I did.
Hard things are so much easier when someone goes through them with you.
Turn your mind to good things
What’s the best way to deal with negative thoughts?
It’s easy to focus too much on negative things. But we choose what we think about. We have some control over our thoughts.
One way to deal with negative thoughts is to direct your mind to positive things. Think about what is right, what is admirable – anything that is praiseworthy.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8
Having said that, there is a reason we have negative thoughts, and we shouldn’t suppress or ignore those reasons. If you’re feeling negatively about your life, it’s a sign that something needs to change. If you’re thinking negatively about yourself, you need to work on your self-esteem.
Prairie turnip
Go on a walk today and share a photo of something that catches your eye.
I went on a hike today along a muddy logging road in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Wildflowers always catch my eye. Most of the flowers I see are ones I have seen multiple times over the years – lupine, obeyed daisies, and salsify.
Today, a plant from the pea family caught my eye. I saw breadroot scurf pea for the first time last year. It is also called prairie turnip or large Indian breadroot. The scientific name is Pediomelum esculentum.
The plant grows in grasslands and in dry woodlands of central North America. The starchy root is edible. I read that it was an important food for Native Americans.
