Sunday, March 24, 2013

Flights delayed

Less than 100 years ago the thought that we would be able to organise a holiday in another part of the world - hop on a plane and fly for 15 plus hours and visit family that lived there would have been ludicrous. Yet, today this is so easy and possible.

My brother and his wife, with my two nieces were due to arrive today from South Africa.  The bags were packed the girls all excited and then the plane was delayed for 24 hours.  What a blow!

How to explain to an 8 & 9 year old that they have to wait?  My brother did a wonderful job - he took the girls to the local park to run off some energy and then they went out to lunch as a family - yup - no food in the house.

It was an upsetting and frustrating day for us all - as we had planned to pick them up this afternoon and celebrate together. But . . . this morning when I woke - I realised that we are so blessed! We are able to fly around the world, visit with family and friends and it happens in an instant.

Technology has given us the gift of 'instant gratification' but it has also taken away our gift of patience and waiting.  We phone someone and talk to them immediately, we share information as it happens on Twitter or Facebook - we live in a world of 'right now'.  I love it, but am also very aware of the need to step back, take a breath and realise that a delayed flight is okay.  It is so much better than a 'crashed flight' or no flight at all.

So tomorrow, when my family arrives I will hug them and love them and appreciate every moment we are together.

2 comments:

Mom said...

Could not agree with you more, yes it is a disappointment that they won't be here today, but tomorrow is better than not arriving. Dad was thinking that perhaps the flight from UK to South Africa had been grounded by the snow, hence the no show in Johannesburg. Girls have coped well so that is good news and now we have tomorrow to look forward to

Unknown said...

I'm guessing (hoping) family are all together now. Have a wonderful time!