Well,
my son is coming home. We tried to make him a ticket from NY to
Cleveland, but were having a hard time pinning him down as to exactly
when he could leave. I went online to airtran.com, my first choice
whenever booking travel to or from NY, because they often have really
good one-way fares.
I
was thrilled to learn that there were $87 tickets one way on Tuesday
and on Wednesday - his two possible dates of travel. I left the screen
up on my computer, and let him know that these fares might not stick
around forever, and that he should call me by day's end with his final
travel day so I could book.
The
day came and went and no phone call. Sure enough, the next morning I
booted up my laptop and lo! The fare was gone. In its place was a not
terrible, but certainly not as exciting, $125 fare.
So
I moved on to southwest.com. They had $119 tickets. Okay. Not bad.
Everything is "basherte" - meant to be. If I'm meant to lose $32 bucks
on the ticket, so be it. I got the info from my son and booked the $119
flight for Tuesday.
Then
I realized something. He will be traveling with 2 pieces of luggage -
which on Airtran would have cost $45. And on Southwest... free. Also,
Southwest is at Hopkins, which is 1/2 hour closer to my house. Total
savings? I'm about $18 richer by missing the "good" fare. Everything is
basherte... meant to be.
So
I'm thinking. Is this a ramble-worthy story? (This is internal
JFX-speak.) It's just a small-potatoes story. It's not
earth-shattering. No thunder, lightning, or splitting of the Red Sea.
But see, that's what I love about it. It's the small, still voice.
It's the daily stuff that happens to me and to you every day. It's
about cultivating the eyes to notice the small miracles and the small
favors that God bestows upon us. All of us are living ramble-worthy
lives.
As the genius Dr. Seuss put it in his debut book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street:
When I leave home to walk to school
Dad always says to me
Marco, keep your eyelids up
And see what you can see.
So
open your eyes, friends. See what you can see. Keep your eyelids open
to the rambles happening all around you. And then, share with others.
