STRESS

Stress will shorten your life.

Making stress even more stressful.

When working at Coke, I managed stress with a morning workout, keeping me sane. Or my version of sane.

But I’ve always been a ‘stress-burier’ – outwardly calm, churning on the inside.

My Captor wearing her stress on her sleeve, like a lot of folks, adding to my stress.

Without comment, of course. Other than “Yes, dear. I know. It’s going to be fine.”

We conducted a ‘Travel Stress Symposium’ the past week; alternating between Boston for a family wedding and a relaxing lake weekend with friends.

Amazing how a couple develops travel routines, rarely varying.

On long car trips, I drive while My Captor does some “damn fine navigating”.

Our ‘normal’ plane travel a Brunswick,GA (BQK) departure with a transfer in Atlanta.

Travel stress begins with departure time for the airport. Oddly, we always leave 15-30 minutes earlier than my preference…

We were the only people in line at security, and BQK has the upgraded Real ID security system, saving us at least 45 seconds.

And then Shoes On!, the signature Trump accomplishment. 

We were at Gate 01 in BQK – the only gate -but the ‘one’ sounding more like a real airport. There are 3 flights a day to ATL, each returning to BQK immediately.

Like an aerial Greyhound.

Much like My Captor, apparently even planes don’t want to stay in ATL. 

We had 2 ½ hours between flights in ATL, which dwindled quickly:

We received a text the flight delayed an hour;

As boarding began, the Zone 1 folks came off the plane with mutters of “It’s delayed”;

The pilot announcing there was a broken part – a SAFETY part – and you wouldn’t want to travel without a SAFETY part, now would you? 

It would take an hour, or more, to get the part from Jacksonville, or ATL, or maybe Home Depot.

Shortly after, the tech found the part; it would be installed within 30 minutes and we’d be SAFE.

After sitting at the gate for 30 minutes awaiting departure, we left. Our time bank appeared to be down to 15 minutes.

One of us said “We won’t make it”, while the other of us used their “It’s going to be fine” line. Which didn’t seem to work.

‘We’ then checked alternative BOS flights, the two remaining only having a few seats remaining.

And then we discovered our arrival gate was B6, next to the departure gate of B5!

And the departure was delayed 30 minutes, so there’s that.

All that stress for nothin’!

That experience the polar opposite of relaxin’ at Lake Rabun, just northeast of dreaded Atlanta traffic.

It began with Damn Fine Navigating: My Captor found a back way through rural GA, avoiding ATL entirely!

We arrived early Friday afternoon, in time for a pontoon boat ride. Pontoon: Latin for relaxin’.

Back home for relaxin’ beers. Beer: Latin for stress relief. But be careful how much and often you medicate your stress.

We were with our hosts and another couple, all of us working together at Coke in the late 1800s (i.e. a while ago).

Lots of relaxed chatting, college football on Saturday – and another pontoon boat ride.

Even more relaxin’ than the first.

We arrived home moments before a torrential downpour. Making for a relaxin’ afternoon: What’s more relaxin’ than rain on the roof?

The best lesson of the stress symposium provided by Boston’s changing leaf colors.

We sat and watched leaves ‘float and dance’ earthward: Foliage Meditation!

What do we have to stress over?

It always works out…one way or another.

ENHANCE YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THIS POST, PAIR WITH THE FOLLOWING ‘AGING HIPSTER MUSIC/READING’:

The new Beck CD ‘Ride Lonesome’ quite good. Almost like a sequel to Morning Phase.

And Love Is Not Enough still available on Amazon. What a great read for anyone who has dealt with mental health or addiction issues. Or just wants to read about family love and recovery. And a great way to find out who Danny really was.