This is how it started: I woke up at 4 am. The night before, I prepared a meal for the morning because I know myself – I have to eat something, or I will get mad at everyone. Of course, I couldn’t eat at 4 am, so I had to be prepared for the morning. I didn’t put my phone on airplane mode, so Abehn could call me just in case. The moment I opened my eyes, I saw a notification from my developer saying that the app wouldn’t be ready for the Beta at all, and they needed two more weeks, which was a huge disappointment. I texted Abehn that I was awake, and I told myself: “This is big, but Shima, let’s focus on the good stuff and get ready for this wonderful trip.” Honestly, I couldn’t believe I was going to see my family (I’m writing this on the plane to them :)).
So, I was trying to do my best to focus on the positive and good stuff, but a big portion of my brain was occupied with thoughts of our app and the news about the big change in our timeline. I was dealing with all of those conflicts in my mind when Abehn called. He was so sick, he was not good at all! I forgot about the app completely, and in a moment, I jumped into my phone, trying to find something positive about his condition. I asked him, “Are you OK?” He was like, “I don’t know.” In my mind, I thought, “Great, that’s all I need for now.” He told me to go and do my stuff, and we would talk later.
I got my Uber, a Tesla? Seriously? At 5 am? OK, I’ll take that. My mind was with our application timeline and Abehn’s condition at the same time. He called again: “Passport, mobile, charger, all packed?” “Yes! All packed, but are you OK?” He said, “I’m good. Don’t worry.”
It’s Sunday morning, and I never expected my partner to wake up at 6 am, but luckily she did. She texted me about the application’s shocking news, and we chatted a little bit about possible solutions. I already felt a bit better, but still felt anxiety running in my veins.
Abehn called, and he sounded a lot better. I figured that the first call’s feeling was all about the after-sleep mood of his, which was mostly like that. He was sick, but not that much
Standing in the line to get my boarding pass (I checked in, but because I have an Iranian passport, it cannot verify my status, so I had to pick it up at the airport), perfect, they are sizing the carry-on bags. Mine looks definitely oversized to me!
It was my turn, and no! She let me go without checking the size. I got my boarding pass and went off to go to security check. Oops, they are checking the size before security. No way to escape this one, and yes! She asked me to try, it went in with a lot of push. I was freaking happy! But now I couldn’t get it out. The thing was like this: When I was pulling my carry-on out, the whole thing hit my face several times. I asked the girl if she could just hold onto the thing so I could take it out, and she was like, “It’s your bag; you have to take care of it.” I could leave my stuff there, I swear! But my adult mentality didn’t let me!
They asked me to open my carry-on. She said I have to do sampling. What the hell does that mean? They did some radioactive testing on my stuff, and done! Okay now, we are in! I have a carry-on, my laptop bag, my huge winter jacket, and I have to buy something from the tax-free. So, one more bag added. Oh, I haven’t had my coffee yet. My mind was like, “Find a line-free coffee shop,” and boom, there it is. “A black coffee to go, please.” He handed me a cup of coffee with a sleeve on it, but oh my god!!!!! It was 100000C? I could barely hold it. My thumb still got burnt due to how hot that cup was.
At the gate, they told us we can get on board, but there is gonna be a 30-minute delay. When they mentioned delay, the line got emptied, so I jumped into the line. My mind was hoping the sooner I got on the plane, the sooner all of these things would be done. Because I was full-handed, I put my coffee into the tax-free bag for two minutes just to scan my boarding pass. On the way to the plane, I smelled coffee. It had poured in the bag and was leaking all the way! I started laughing. It was not me. I felt like the whole thing was so beyond my control that I could not stop laughing. People started to laugh, and now everyone knows about me, my unlimited number of bags, and my leaking coffee all the way to the plane! It was a paper bag, so it won’t survive too long. I had to have a plan, perfect! Now thinking about the application timeline, Abehn’s sickness, and needing a solution for this tearing-apart bag, and I have to clue! “Leave it for now, Shima!” All I need is just to get to my seat and take a breath. I’m gonna see my parents, my sisters, my brother-in-laws, my nephews, for god’s sakes!!!
Finally, I sat down. I’m not gonna lie; I was worried about coffee leaking from the container all the way onto passengers’ heads :)) I sat down and took a deep breath. It was an aisle seat. I still didn’t have a clue how I was gonna figure this mess out.
I was texting Abehn that I’m about to take off. There was a boy sitting across the aisle who asked me, “Nobody is coming next to you?” I was like, “Oh my God! I am sitting in the three seats alone. That is my luck today.” I told him I don’t know. He asked the flight attendant, and she said, “We are done with the boarding and not expecting any passengers :)))” I took the window seat; he took mine, so there is still one empty seat, and those on the other side also got one empty space.
A few minutes after taking off, I remembered that I always keep a foldable tote bag for these kinds of situations! Happy AF!
Done! Nothing to worry about, at least not about those things! Here I am sitting at a bar at Cun airport, talking to a stranger about how good attracts good! I believe that the universe sends messages to us.
So, I took that message as something coming from the universe. It has been a long time since I caught up in some silly daily stuff, and I don’t know why and when I lost myself. All of those small things he mentioned were my philosophy of my day-to-day life, and suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, a total stranger who is now one of my friends reminded me of all those things. Even his sentences were mine, I was so used to them. And you know what I told him?
The bartender is so friendly. When I was talking to John about how my Spanish is, he was laughing at me :)) Mi amo Shima, am I right? He was like, yes! And we all laughed. That was one of the best conversations I’ve had for my first time sitting at the bar.
The old guy at the bar was so friendly and happy. Actually, everyone is happy here so far!
