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| Happy travelers at Big Basin State park. |
I’m the December partner in a May-December marriage (he's 82 to my 60) so I do
most of the planning and arrangements in our lives, because my brain is firing
on more cylinders than his.
A lapse of consciousness occurred on our vacation that put me in my place. I had booked
our flights many months in advance because I was using frequent flyer miles. I
filed the e-ticket away and started making my plans so that each day had a destination and purpose. We were flying to
California, leaving on a Friday and coming home on a Friday
-- or that’s what I told myself and others as I regaled them with my plans.
The vacation was great. We had a nice weekend with my cousin in Pacific Grove, spent time in Big Sur, visited
redwood forests, Sausalito, San Francisco and then back to San Jose for the flight
home. Being a savvy traveler, I
went to the hotel lobby the night before our flight home to print boarding
passes. Turns out that my flight home had been that very day; I had never
re-checked the itinerary to confirm the flight. (And I apparently ignored the
email reminder that pinged on my smart phone the day before the flight.)
$1400 later, I had new flights booked. I dragged myself back
to the hotel room for a dose of humble pie as I told my husband the bad news.
Bernie took it really well, far better than me. No blame, no recrimination,
just an acknowledgment that stuff happens. He wouldn’t let it spoil our great
vacation and he has never mentioned it again.
I still don’t know how it happened… why I didn’t check the
tickets as I normally do. Why I booked the flight home earlier than my
well-laid plans. I continue to beat myself up on the screw up.
When I think back on this vacation, I'll recall lunch at Nepenthe on Big Sur, the sea lions in Monterey Bay, the redwoods at Big Basin, and the big bus tour in San Francisco, but my worst experience may
turn out to be the best memory.
Being forgiven – no strings attached – really is divine.
Have you been forgiven for something you can't forget? Or were you the one who turned the other cheek? Share your stories of forgiveness.
