Y'all Come Sit a Spell

Good morning, y’all. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Today’s prompt asks for one piece of travel advice I always follow. Mine is simple: pack patience.
That sounds easy enough when you’re making lists at home. Put the patience right alongside the chargers and travel documents, and you’re all set. But travel has a way of testing whether you really brought it.
This trip tested mine with spades. My boyfriend was sent back home from Madrid. There were delayed flights, luggage trouble, and no chance to sightsee in Barcelona. I was without my medication, CPAP machine, and toiletries. The trip I had planned was suddenly a string of problems to sort through, one after another.
I was stressed. I was frustrated. Patience didn’t make any of that disappear, and it didn’t mean I had to pretend everything was fine. It meant trying to keep my cool long enough to work out what came next. When one thing went wrong, I had to deal with that thing, then the next one. Losing my temper wouldn’t have found my luggage or changed the flights. It would only have made an already hard situation harder.
I kept coming back to the thought, If this is the worst thing that happens, it could be worse. And in some ways, it could. I was healthy. I was uninjured. I still had my vacation, even if it wasn’t unfolding the way I’d pictured. Remembering that didn’t make the hassles small. It helped me hold onto the parts of the trip that were still mine.
So I don’t think of patience as something I pack once and forget about. I check on it several times, especially when the plans start falling apart. I need patience with the people trying to help, with the situation I can’t control, and with myself while I figure out what to do.
That’s the advice I’ll keep taking with me: pack patience, and check on it along the way. You never know how much you’ll need.
Thanks for sitting with me a spell. I’ll save you a porch chair for next time.