2014: Here’s to New Adventures

Last night, I arrived back in NYC from a blissful holiday in Florida. I was surprised to find JFK Airport relatively empty, and I was also a little grateful, since I’d started to experience a little air sickness during the airplane’s descent.

Before getting into a cab, I took a seat and a dramamine and waited for my stomach to settle. Eventually, I made my way towards ground transportation and magically avoided the typically long wait for a cab.

Now, as a control freak, I’m not a huge fan of cabs. I just don’t like the idea of putting my life in the hands of an, often times, recklessly driving stranger. So to ease my anxiety, I made an effort to be just friendly enough to the cabbie. I asked him how he was and if it had been busy at the airport. We made just the right amount of appropriate small talk. He seemed nice and I felt a little more comfortable.

Just as we were pulling onto the highway, the nausea returned. I tried everything –cracking the window, deep breathing, closing my eyes — but nothing worked. Pre-imptively, I had asked the flight attendant for a plastic bag, and while I proceeded to vomit into said bag, I was very, very grateful that I had had the good sense to think ahead. However, it didn’t even occur to me to check the bag for holes, and as my bad luck would have it, there was a hole in the bag. I’ll glimmer over the details at this point, but basically, the backseat and I ended up covered in sick.

Talk about ringing in the New Year.

I spent the remaining 15 minutes of the cab ride stressing over how I was going to tell this kind cabbie that I had thrown up all over myself and his backseat. And then, that small more reasonable part of myself reminded me that this probably wasn’t the first time someone had gotten sick in his cab. That I was human and we can’t control getting sick. That as awkward as it was going to be, I would have to tell him and I would offer to grab some cleaning supplies from my apartment and clean it up. That I needed to treat myself with some grace and just deal with the situation as best I could.

When we pulled up in front of my apartment building, I told him what had happened and apologized profusely. I waited for him to lose it on me. Surprisingly, he didn’t freak out and said he had some cleaning supplies in the trunk. I cleaned up the mess, apologized again, gave him all the cash I had and wished him a very happy New Year.

I’m sharing this story because it nicely wraps up 2013. Over the past year, I learned the importance of practicing authenticity and letting go of being perfect. I learned that it’s ok to make mistakes and to learn from them and and move on. I learned that the worst case scenario rarely happens and that compassionate people actually do exist. I learned that you must accept where you are in each moment and be willing to ask for help when you need it.

In some ways, this horrifying cab ride felt like a test, a moment to really embrace the lessons of the past year, and move on towards the next one. So here’s to the adventures to come, the next series of lessons to learn and to practicing more.

Happy New Year everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

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