Last week, while on my way to Miraval Resort in Tucson, Arizona for our annual retreat with Louise Hay and Cheryl Richardson, the craziest thing happened…I missed my flight! For the first time ever! In my whole life! The Denver airport was a zoo because of Spring Break. I was there in plenty of time…but having a bag to check was the problem! I mean, I hold the world record (well, at least I think I do) for going  73 days straight in carry-on…so what would a mere 28 days be this time!?! But no, I was practicing extreme self-care and giving myself room so as not to stuff everything for a month into my tiny purple rolly…what was I thinking? The lines were so long that by the time I got up to the kiosk counter I was informed that it was too late to check a bag for my flight and then led over to another serpentine line for rebooking.

Did I mention it was Spring Break?!

I called my travel angel – and he was able to grab the last seat on ANY flight to Tucson departing that day – at 10 PM.

Did I mention that it was 10 *AM* when this was all happening!

And, the additional fee would be $1,100!

Even with him holding this seat for me, I still had to stand on the slow moving line for Customer Service to make the change. For well over an hour, while I listened to people bitching and kids screaming, I decided to walk my talk – I do work at Hay House and was on my way to spend a week with Louise and Cheryl, after all!  – so I channeled them and waited patiently with a positive attitude!

When I finally got to the counter I smiled and said to the agent, “I’m determined to be your kindest customer today!” and the frazzled agent next to her looked at me like I was kind of crazy and said, “You already are!” and then my agent added, “And I’m sure that by the end of our shift you still will be!” She rebooked me on that 10PM flight. “Do you know this will cost $1,100?” she asked. I nodded my head “Yes.” And then, because positivity is infectious, she told me that since I was so nice and calm she was going to bypass the fee in the system and not charge me a dime!!!

WOW – there’s something to this positive thinking!!! I realized it felt so much better to be kind instead of complaining. I noticed that when I was pleasant, others reflected it right back to me and I enjoyed seeing these agents happy during a stressful day. She put me on standby for the 2:30 PM flight.  I was first on the list and for the next few hours I visualized myself sitting on that plane.

So, what could have spiraled into an “ain’t it awful” day actually became quite joyful. And…you better believe that at 2:30 PM I cleared the standby list and found myself tucked into the last available seat on that plane. I shared the hour ride to the resort deep in conversation with my new friend Molly, a delightful woman on her way to our retreat, and I made it to Miraval for dinner!

Today, I post this poem  this the newly revised and updated edition of my book Writing for My Life…Reclaiming the Lost Pieces of Me: A Poetic Journey  in honor of the first day of National Poetry Month