Judy. I've mentioned before that one of my favorite phrases of Ted's is "What does this make possible?" It's a great way to redirect our thinking when a plan falls through. It served us well during the pandemic, when we found a little house near our daughter, a house to which we now return when we go back to Georgia.
Last year, we were unable to go to the Basque Country when we were in Spain, so we went to Mallorca instead, and met up with our friend Monica--not a bad trade-off.
On this cruise, when the weather was bad in the Azores, which we'd really wanted to visit, the Captain's Plan B was to go to Madeira instead, where we were able to walk into town to a wine tasting, and return with a vintage bottle of Madeira wine.
What we're not good at is looking ahead for a Plan B. So far we've been lucky--no missed flights, no accidents, and illnesses that happened when we were in one spot for awhile. It's made us lazy, even when we've talked about the need to locate a doctor just in case, or when we wondered what we'd do if we tested positive for Covid the day before getting on a ship.
However, back in Málaga, at 5 PM before we were to leave the next morning for Barcelona, I got hit with killer food poisoning, and was up all night with very unpleasant trips to the bathroom. In between, I kept thinking, "I've got to get over this! If we miss the flight, how will we make it to Rome to catch the ship on time?" Ted, trying to catch sleep in the living room, was agonizing over the same question.
Luckily, I had my last bout at 5 AM. I took some medication, showered, got dressed, and sipped tea. And we made it to the airport on time.
So, after so much luck, we finally realized that Plan B needs to always be part of our repertoire. Locate a doctor or medical center. Check with airlines ahead of time to see what other options are available. Above all, don't count on luck.
Sometimes lovely things are made possible, but not always. As my Eagle Scout son would remind me: "Be prepared."
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