This morning I woke up and just stayed in bed for a while. Whenever I do that my mind starts to wander and I think. My thoughts were turned to a time when I was visiting New York City in July 2004 with my family quite a few years back. It was a fabulous vacation of driving up the east coast, eventually stopping in Palmyra, New York to visit the sites and my parents who were serving a mission there. Easton was just a little guy, about three and a half because he was still being pushed around in the ol' umbrella stroller. Bren and Janelle were hanging with us too on that day in the big city.
The setting for my daydreaming adventure was the busy and chaotic Penn Station with it's masses of people buzzing about in transit to their destinations. Our little family had spent the day in New York City seeing the sights and walking the energizing streets of that great city.
We were preparing to board a train that would take us to our hotel in New Jersey. As we waited at the right spot to catch our line out of the city it was decided that I would take one last bathroom trip with Easton and Landon before boarding the train because we had a little time to kill. Stephen waited with Ashton, Dallin, Bren and Janelle while I headed to the restroom with the two youngest boys. We wove through the crowds of people, quickly and uneventfully finding the facilities we were searching for. The journey back to our waiting family was definitely a different story.
As we retraced our path it soon became clear that I had no idea where I was going. I didn't even know what train line we were searching for because I had simply just followed Stephen wherever he went through Penn Station with Easton in tow. I didn't even know what city we were heading to in New Jersey. We were always the caboose of our little traveling group, simply followers in a sea of people. And obviously I had been a great follower just pushing along and enjoying the scenery. To make matters worse for our scenario, I didn't have my cell phone with me, having left it in my bag with Stephen. I can honestly say that I began to panic. I knew our train was leaving soon and let's face it....I was lost in Penn Station, not a good place to be lost in. My little entourage and myself wandered for quite sometime hoping to catch a glimpse of familiar faces or to recognize a path that we had traveled before. Everything started looking the same and we just simply kept retracing our path as we wandered "lost in the wilderness"! I said a little prayer in my heart and acted brave for Landon. He calmly tried to help me look for the right hallway or signs. We stopped at the police booth and I told them my plight. They asked me over and over what line I was taking, which direction I was headed and what city we were staying in...sadly, I had nothing for them. Finally one of the policemen started to just walk with me, pointing me in the direction of different lines heading to New Jersey, hoping we would run into our group. Nothing. Then, we had an AHA moment. The police used his cell phone to call Stephen and we were eventually reunited. Too many questions were asked by Stephen when he gathered us to safety and I am sure that he is still baffled today at the fact that his wife was literally lost in New York City with his two youngest!
And what did I learn from this life-altering experience? I learned some life lessons that I still use today:
1. Always know where you are going, know your destination. If you don't know your destination how can you possibly get where you need to go? When I travel now I always use a map that I have looked at before hand and I am very aware of my location.
2. Take charge of yourself, don't rely on others to get you where you need to go. I placed too much trust in Stephen and was a follower. I didn't think, question, and definitely wasn't aware of my surroundings. I just followed. I learned to be an active participant in the process.
3. Always have your cell phone with you. What good is that little box of amazing little box of technology if nobody can contact you on it and if you can use it when necessary.
4. Stay calm and know that things will work out. Saying a little prayer in my heart helped me arrive at my destination. I somehow knew that it would be OK.
Stephen and Landon are safely riding the train back to our hotel in New Jersey!
Easton made friends with this little fellow on the train.
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