Anyone who knows me well, knows I have quite a difficult time with patience. I am easily flustered, and too often, speak too quickly, too sharply.One of the things I most wanted to glean from Mexico was greater patience. I figured five days a week, 4 months out of my year, teaching children, ages 3 to 10, would teach me long suffering. I was completely unaware that my journey towards patience would start the minute I stepped foot into the Salt Lake City airport.
Apparently patience comes in many forms. For me, patience was 5'6", curly-haired, chatty, and masculine. Ryan was to be my travel companion to Mexico.
At first, I was so relieved (I had been under the impression I would be traveling by myself, a somewhat daunting thought, all the way to Mexico). However, after five minutes of Ryan in tow, I didn't know how I was going to be able to survive the entire day with him...
Our bags were checked. We were finally through security. Ryan led the way to our gate. Our first flight was from Salt Lake to San Fransisco: a connecting flight with Mexicana Airlines to Mexico City. Under the impression we were flying United, I was utterly confused when the boy settled himself into one of the black faux-leather seats of the Delta terminal. "I've flown from here a million times. This is our gate," he said with a flourish of his hand, pointing to the flight attendants, busy at the desk marked "Delta." I was almost certain he was wrong , but he seemed so sure of himself, sitting there, a large, "I did it smile" gracing his smug little face. I conceited, assuming I'd been wrong in thinking United was the airline we were flying, and settled a couple seats down from him.
We shot the breeze for 45 minutes or so, then I started getting antsy. Our plane boarded at 7:30; it was already 7:50, and still no call for passangers. Calling this to his attention, Ryan pulled his plane tickets from his over-sized cargo pockets, and, furitively, calling his items to him. "We are flying United," he smiled. "We're at the Delta terminal." ?!
Ryan and I sprinted to the United terminal, arriving red-faced and out of breath. "Name?" the United staffsman asked me.
"Laga. *Gasp* Carly."
"Your plane is about to take-off. They've been waiting for you."
I was furious! The boy and I hurridly walked along the entrance way to the awaiting plane, just in time to hop inside before the door to our plane closed.
Ryan was laughing as we settled in our seats, baggage safely stowed. "Wasn't that fun?!" I was so distraught, the only thing I could manage was a tart glance in his dirrection.
The entire plane ride, he talked to me- no- talked at me. I had just left my family for 4 months. I was journeying to a country completely foreign to me. We had almost missed our flight. I was stressed. I was anxious. I was tired. I hadn't eaten breakfast. I was cranky. The last thing I wanted at that moment was a walking/talking/breathing AM radio. His stations ranged from 88.7 KNKL: Love and Relationships, to 980 KSVC: Local Gossip, 1230 KJQS: ESPN, to 1490 KFYO: Bible Broadcasting. It was all I could do to keep the volume at such a level to allow thought.
One of my favorite quotes is from a children's book author,Tim Hansel: learning patience takes a lot of patience! Never could anyone be so correct!
