We were supposed to be flying to California 2 days ago, to meet with NLP friends in Santa Cruz, San Francisco and LA, as well as give Daniel the chance to experience an amazing break before embarking on University life.
However, we didn't anticipate British Airways pilots striking on the day we were due to fly back, which resulted in British Airways cancelling our flights! Apparently we could have rebooked, but due to the short notice, flights were ridiculously expensive and we didn't happen to have a spare £12,000 tucked down the back of the sofa!
We did try, very hard, to contact BA for clarification because their communication was shocking, ambiguous and inconsistent...but they were too busy dealing with other enquiries to answer their phones and after two days of 'calling back later' as they advised, we let it go... after all, there was nothing we could do, we had exhausted all the options and we had already taken up too much precious time over our bank holiday weekend.
We are lucky in that we believe that these things happen for a reason and we just weren't meant to be in the States at this time. We believe that every cloud has a silver lining, even when we may have to look a bit harder than usual to find it. We trust that the Universe has other things in mind for us right now.
So far, we have spent the gift of time doing some additional work for the new website - that has eased a bit of work pressure and reduced the stress levels. We have also joined the local gym (!) - a spur of the moment decision and, because we had some time, we have been able to make use of it, so there is a longer term health benefit too.
Dan has asked if we can do an 'ambitious baking day'...we're still finding out what that entails, but 'Opera Cake' seems to be taking a central role - maybe we have a future 'Bake Off' winner in our midst. I'm really looking forward to spending that quality time with Dan, being able to focus on something other than University plans and A Level results!
And next week, we are taking a break as a family...in the UK, so we don't have to worry about travel plans! We are looking forward to mooching around, sitting in a cafe or two, watching the world go by and doing nothing much except 'be'.
So c'est la vie...every cloud does have a silver lining, these things do happen for a reason and I am sure, that when the time is right, we will get to California and have an even better time than we were originally planning!