Last month, I thought I lost my luggage.
Of course, I got lost on the way to the airport in the impossible to navigate Minnesota because I didn't realize that the terminals had names and my itinerary had letters...meaning I ended up at Humphrey when I should have been at Lindbergh (or was it the other way around?). I ditched my car at the Hertz lot in some delusional attempt to turn 33 minutes into enough time to check in, get through security, and get to the gate.
When the scramble was over, miraculously I was sitting on the airplane, NOT in first class (cause I had lost my upgrade), sweaty and disheveled, and forfeiting my carry on bag to a less than believable flight attendant who told me it would meet me in Providence.
Around midnight, when I dragged myself to baggage claim, I can't say I was surprised when the last piece of luggage was pulled off the belt and I was empty handed. As I searched the airport garage for my car, I began to silently catalog and mourn...
Two of my favorite pairs of shoes...I loved those shoes.
A new pair of running sneakers...I had just started to break them in.
My black Ann Taylor jacket...what a great deal I got on it.
Three pants, several tops, bras, socks, makeup....there were so was so much stuff in there.
There is a terrible sadness, mixed with frustration and anger and disappointment, when something is lost. My favorite poem by Elizabeth Bishop, One Art, speaks of dealing with it...'The art of losing isn't hard to master'...
The next morning as I listened to the 'no status' of my lost stuff on the airline's lost baggage line, I started to plan my replacement strategy. I began running through what was a priority to buy that day, what could wait until the next trip to the mall, and what was something I would have to search a bit to find something similar. Then I moved on.
As if the fates recognized my recovery, the phone rang. Delta had found my stuff, and it was all waiting for me in Hartford (still not quite sure how it landed at a different airport). After accepting that it was lost, finding it was all the sweeter. And the experience was a reminder.
Here it is in Bishop's own words:
'So many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss in no disaster'...
It's easy to give into the emotions, and the appearance of disaster can take over. Recognizing that it's part of the natural order of things and taking just one step forward gives us power over it.
'Then practice losing'...
Maybe this is extreme, but the point is that the more adversity we face head on, the better equipped we are to manage through it and recognize what needs to be done.
And here it is in my words:
'Celebrate when it's found (or never lost)'...
On those occasions when things go right and stuff doesn't get lost or is unexpectedly found, hold onto it.
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