Lucky

I had to leave town Sunday to attend a Glass Doctor training seminar in Memphis, TN. Booking the flight was a bear and I had to look at 6 or 7 different combinations of flights, airlines & two different departing airports to finally get a combo that would work. Needless to say I didn't have a clear departure time in my head.

So as I left for the airport I glanced at my boarding pass that I had just printed & shoved into my pocket & realized that my flight departure was 2 hours earlier than I had thought! I had 45 minutes to get to an airport that was 50 minutes away in good traffic!

I frantically called the airline to check for later flights... none. I would have to pay extra to change to another airport and pay to upgrade to first class. No go. I decided to take my chances.

The traffic marquees along the route all warned of a 4 mile backup going into the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel but I kept on going... nothing to lose at this point.
Mile 4... no traffic slowdown.
Mile 3... none.
Mile 2, none...
Mile 1, slowdown to 35, but still moving.
Then I was out of the tunnel with 20 minutes to travel 30 miles to the airport...

Flight was supposed to leave the gate at 5:35 and I arrived at the airport at 5:45. Security checkpoint was a ghost-town. They were training new people and there were about 12 white uniformed security people watching me like cows behind a fence as I ripped out of my shoes, belt etc and popped open my laptop for the scanning. I got through quickly and sprinted to my gate just as the planed pushed away from the ramp. CRAP! Seriously, it was like the movies.

Salvation came in the form of a 5'2" ramp agent who, after scolding me for being late "Mr Taylor, we paged you for 15 minutes! Where were you?", proceeded to scan available flights. Nothing. She told me to "hold on for a minute," and ran over to another gate to chat with the ramp agent...

"Problem solved," she said, "You must be living right. Did you go to church today?" As it turns out, yes I did...

They had a plane that got grounded earlier in the day for maintenance and now that it was repaired, needed to fly it back to Atlanta for flights out in the morning. The pilots & crew needed to get back to Atlanta as well,
"Do you mind flying alone?"
I thought, are you serious? NO PROBLEM!!

So I had my own flight to Atlanta. (see proof @ left.) Me. 2 flight attendants. Nice ones. Lots of snacks. I sat in every seat I wanted to until I found the perfect one (exit row, #12B). I felt like Trump. "Mr Taylor would you like a blanket? Mr Taylor can I get you something else to drink? Mr Taylor, more cookies?" As we landed they both hugged me and thanked me for flying Delta. The pilot smiled and shook my hand, wishing me luck as I left the plane. Awesome.

Of course I missed my connection in Atlanta, but they did have an extra seat on a later connection. My luck held as I boarded the plane & realized that seat 4C was in the first class section. Wooo Hooo!!! Again, "Mr Taylor, can I get you anything to drink? Please select a snack from this huge basket of treats..."

On to the shuttle to the hotel. As I left the shuttle the guy behind me said, "Hey, you dropped $5." as he reached down to pick it up off the ground. I said that it wasn't mine and he said that it fell as I got out of the van & handed it to me.

Should have played the lottery.

My luck held as I came home yesterday as well. I got another bump up to Business Class for one leg of my flight, and although my car had a flat tire, I realized that I had just enough air in it to drive to the gas station & fill it. Perfect. And it started to rain just as I got in the car after filling the tire at the station. Lucky again.

So here's to lucky happenstances and fortunate random chances. Good things still happen out there when you least expect them.

I'm getting on the phone to call some of my real estate leads. Let's hope my luck holds...

-Taylor