Adventure To

My adventure to She Speaks was eventful. I got to Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix on time only to find my flight delayed. The airlines overbooked! I had no seat assignment.

The American Airline’s clerk was, well let us say, less than helpful. He grunted at me when I asked for information about seating assignments on the flight, and gave no information at all. I realized later that that is all I really wanted. Another clerk noticed my dismay and explained that they were working to get others to give up their seats (for a voucher), to get those of us, who needed to make it to our destinations at a certain time, on the airplane. I was grateful for this man’s kindness. I finally received the LAST seat on the plane and headed to Charlotte.

I arrived in Charlotte an hour and a half later than I was scheduled. I was supposed to get in there at 11:10 pm originally, but because of the delay reached my destination at 12:30 am. Thankfully, the car rental service I was using stayed open until 1:00 am. I picked up my car, came back to the terminal to pick up my bags, and finally left the airport at 1:30.
I then had to travel to Concord, NC, which was about 20 minutes north of Charlotte. I looked at a map only briefly before leaving the house that morning, thinking I had written down enough information to find my exit and get to the hotel. Sadly, that was not the case. Toto was no longer in Kansas, or should I say Arizona.

Instead of the road name the hotel was on, the number for the highway was the only thing listed on the big green signs I continued to pass. I drove rather aimlessly looking for my destination, turning around in parking lots, pulling quickly into different lanes, talking to my husband on the phone trying to get directions, until finally a police officer pulled me over to see how drunk I really was. He looked at my driver’s license, shook his head and listened to my sad story of being lost in an unknown land. He then roughly breathed out, asked me once again if I had anything to drink on the plane, (telling me how badly I was driving) and finally gave me directions to my hotel.

Of course, it was 2:30 am before I made it to the locked door of my hotel. Mercifully, the clerk let me in. He gave me my room key, telling me my room was right next to the office. This meant I had to lug all my bags up a steep hill, because there was no parking even remotely close to my room. I pulled everything out of the car (I got a great rental though, it was a white grand prix and it was fun) and headed up the hill.

I entered the room and immediately thought of a horror movie I had once watched. The room was not the nicest to say the least. Plus, one of my girlfriends recently informed me of the nastiness of most hotels; how they don’t wash the comforters, or even change the sheets most of the time. I didn’t sleep in my clothes, but I was tempted to do so. I changed and talked one last time to my husband to let him know I was safe. For the last hour, he looked up maps on the computer trying to help me find my destination. I thanked him, and tried to sleep.

I didn’t have to register at the conference until the middle of the afternoon, so I planned to sleep in, that is until I received a text from my girlfriend asking me how things were and if I was ready. I tried to ignore it, but the beeping finally got me up. I read the text and lay back down until 10:00. I got up, paid $3.59 at the corner gas station for a small bottle of Tylenol, because my hip was sore because of the long flight and the not so comfortable bed. I took a shower, practiced my three minute talk that would be evaluated that night, and headed to the convention center, only to get lost again.

You see, I did not sign up soon enough to stay at the convention center with all the other wonderful women, and to save money I found a Days Inn near the conference. BIG mistake and the mistakes just kept coming because of this one. I got lost going to the center, maps are deceiving, and the south has lots of hills and even more trees that hindered any directional sense I might have in Arizona. I stopped at a gas station, and then at a wonderful Chick-fil-a to ask for directions. They both gave great ones, but I still ended up passing the convention center and having to do a u-turn all the while looking over my shoulder to make sure no police officers were following me.

Another police stop would have pushed me over the top to a full breakdown. I safely arrived at the center, only to find a huge building that I had to navigate, with a deep dread in my heart about making it back to my scary, horror movie hotel, so I could do it all over again the next morning.

The Lord was just beginning to reveal to me my absolute need for HIM through the SheSpeaks weekend!