Today started with an impromptu trip, with no time to prepare. My daughter is sick at school a few states away. It is finals week. She is alone because her roommates have left for winter break.
As I run through the Chicago O'hare Airport, there is so much that comes to mind when you have to make a quick decision.
My daughter desperately emailed her professor to take the exam later in the week, but she was out of luck. She has a terrible cough, fever, and chills. She is miserable and alone in the house, preparing not only for finals but to drive 8 hours home alone in weather expected to be well below freezing the following day.
So I made a quick decision: a flight there and I will drive her car back with her. That way, I will know she is cared for and not falling asleep at the wheel.
I booked a flight, but I'd have to be ready to leave in 20 minutes. Can I do it? Yes!
There is a mumps epidemic going around her campus. Mumps is highly contagious, and she has many of the symptoms. As I am boarding the flight, I receive a message from her saying she's at Urgent Care about to be tested.
Unfortunately, when you buy a plane ticket 20 minutes before take-off, it's usually not the best flight, and I have a 25-minute layover during what is usually a 38-minute flight. It was a mixture of running and hurdling through the obstacles of the busy, international airport.
Although, this chaotic day was about more than just a quick decision. It was about living in a manner that allows you to be physically prepared to sprint through a hectic airport under constrained time to get to your sick daughter. It's about taking care of yourself, so when the dreaded time arrives that you need to get up and move, you can do it.
Are you keeping yourself fit and healthy? I know many people of all ages who could not have run through that airport today.
So, are you ready to live at a moment's notice? Are you prepared to do what you need to do, so you can be at your best, so you can be there when you need to?
But, yet again, there is even more to this narrative. Be clear on your vision and be clear on what matters. My family is why I do what I do, and I want to be an active participant in whatever that means at the time. To be a part, you need to be fit and healthy, and clear enough to know when to spend the extra money for the impromptu flight.
My belief in what is possible for myself and my daughters has been passed down and, in times when I needed to hear it again, passed back up.
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