Determined - Anyway

 My oldest son and I were up early this second day of Kwanzaa.

I am already an early riser and so is he.

He is visiting from Missouri for the holidays and was getting all this gear packed.

Both of us missed to family message that his flight had been cancelled.

So we were blissfully going down our checklist, secretly happy that we had the day planned out with plenty of time to drive from Connecticut to New York for his would've been evening flight.

"Your flight has been cancelled and the earliest day is January 2nd."

Now for me, I smiled a bit and hugged him, thankful that he is an entrepreneur with his own custom sneaker design and restoration business. He is his own boss.

"Thanks, Mama."

And in the next minute, "I need to call my partners."

He and two of his business partners have a unique business in the Kansas City Metro Area that compliments their target audience - studio work, tattoo, custom sneakers.

We both smiled for a minute and just like that, had the day given back to us and more time, it would be the first time in some years that he will be with us for the new year.

Four of my five children were here for Christmas and the sons were set to leave within a day of each other. The youngest son was a car ride away. 

The blessing is that we have a big comfortable home for everyone to spread out and that since he is his own boss, he doesn't have to contact an employer to explain about Southwest Airlines and the weather that dumped lifetime snow on Buffalo, New York, disrupting thousands of flights. He already had to deal with not having his luggage for two days coming here because they lost it in Chicago. He adjusted and of course, I had a welcome kit waiting for him that had enough to sustain him until his cold bags arrived just before Christmas.

We spend our lives adjusting to unexpected events. As a business owner, he took it in stride.

On the other hand, as an entrepreneur, if he doesn't work, he doesn't eat, technically.

Like every creative, his wheels started turning, he already did some restoration work for me and his sisters .

It isis determination to have joy anyway, to see the bright side. His flight was supposed to be in the evening and not our family usual of early morning. We would have already been up and out at 3:30am on the way to New York and then would have been at the airport when the cancellation news came through.

We are in the comfort of our home and he is not like hundreds of others stranded in cities across the country without the love of family.

Maybe that is part of the broader lessons in this final week of the year and going into 2023.

Setbacks can happen, the unexpected can happen, the thing is how do we deal with it.

For my son, he was like, "well, I'm already mostly packed, so I will just use these couple outfits for the rest of the week and enjoy myself."

I told him it will all work out for his business and maybe he can expand to the Northeast.

"I'm not worried about it, mama."

We both enjoyed another cup of rosemary brown sugar coffee and the tranquility of home.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

©2022. All Rights Reserved. Enjoying the comfort of family in Connecticut.