I got as far as Ljubljana (great name, eh?) yesterday, without too many glitches and without much hassle.
I don't enjoy being cooped up on an airplane for eight or more hours (far fewer, to be honest), but one can endure much by taking it one moment at a time. I didn't sleep on the plane, so there were a lot of moments!
Once I got to Ljubljana, however, the glitches began.
Suffice it to say that I got bumped from my scheduled flight to a later one, without any way to call the people meeting me on the other end by phone. (Little did I know that I could have trotted out the "I have orders from the US Army" card; I've since been educated.)
At times like that, I find that simple things like prayer really help. The Serenity Prayer that my friends who go to a lot of AA and Al-Anon meetings have taught me is a case in point. I must have turned that thing into a mantra, I said it so many times.
I was hungry and grumpy and in need of a shower (and a shave!) and some desperately-needed sleep -- not exactly at my best, shall we say.
On top of that, I was also in a place where I knew nothing of the language.
I could either get -- and stay -- really upset, or I could just go with the flow and let happen whatever was going to happen. I managed to get an email off to as many people as I could remember email addresses for (we have new Army email addresses for this mission), asking them to let the appropriate people know my situation and my new arrival time.
I said the Serenity Prayer eleventy-seven times.
Then I settled in to watch an episode of NCI on DVD, and flew to Sarajevo (not my destination), before arriving here.
By the time I had gotten here, gotten my room (complete with roommate), and finally turned off the light, I'd been up for 32 hours.
I missed my Soldiers while I was gone, and I'm glad to be here.
Blessings and peace to one and all,
Fr. Tim, SJ
1 comment:
Glad you arrived safely.
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