Coming home from the teachers conference

A wise decision I made about my trip to the Annual TCC Teacher Conference in Albuquerque was to stay over until Monday to return home. In the past, I would find myself in a hurry having to catch a plane before the meeting I was attending concluded. I decided this was not to be the case this time. I had plenty of time before the closing activities of the program to say goodbye to those who were in a rush to leave. Sunday afternoon several of us rented a van and took a leisurely trip to Santa Fe. We came back to the mountain by Albuquerque, rode the longest tram in the world to the top, and had dinner together. We returned to the hotel and had a good night’s sleep. I was up early Monday morning, did a TCC practice, and headed for the airport.

When I made my reservations for this trip several months before, I decided to go out of Little Rock, Arkansas because Guy Kent had informed everyone that Southwest was offering low prices at the time (Little Rock is about 250 miles from Tupelo, MS). When I received my e-ticket, I saw that on my flight to Albuquerque I would be going through Dallas and changing planes. On my return trip I saw that I was to have a direct flight from Albuquerque to Little Rock.

I arrived at my gate in plenty of time Monday morning and immersed myself in some reading materials. The time came to board and I got in line. I noticed a flashing sign above the entrance with the words “Little Rock/Dallas”. The thought did flash through my mind, “Oh, this flight will continue on to Dallas.” After finding a seat, I began reading. Before I knew it we were landing. I thought, “Great, we are already here and I can get home early.” I rushed out of the plane, not paying attention to anything or anybody and went to the baggage claim. My bags did not show. I went into the Southwest office and asked if the bags had been unloaded. The lady said they had and asked to see my claim stubs. After looking at them, she said these bags are going to Little Rock. My response was, “Isn’t this Little Rock?” She said, “No, you are in Dallas.” My heart sank. The lady took me out the door and pointed toward a ticket counter and told me to ask the lady there to give me a boarding pass for a flight leaving in one hour for Little Rock. I asked the lady, “Does this happen often?” Her response was, “All the time.” I went to the counter as directed and the lady there did not hesitate to print me another boarding pass. I was expecting her to look at me with a look that said, “You dummy.” I said to her, “I suppose I am the only one who has ever done this.” Her response: “Not by any means.”

As I was waiting for my flight to Little Rock, I called my wife to let her know what had happened. Her response was very grace-full, “You must really be relaxed.” As I was waiting for my flight I remembered while in Santa Fe I saw this little magnet with the words on it: “Shift Happens.” Believe me, the word shift in TCC took on a whole new meaning for me. After arriving in Little Rock, I went to the Southwest office to pick up my bags. The lady there let me know that my experience was not the first. She informed me that it was only recently that my flight did go directly from Albuquerque to Little Rock. She might as well have said to me, “Shift happens.” It was good to get back home.