Trina Machacek: Bang! Brown to Green

Waiting is an art form. Waiting can be torture or treasure. The optimist in me treasures waiting knowing at the end of the wait I’ll be rewarded with said treasure. The pessimist, which I really try not to be, will be tortured by waiting. Anticipating the wait will be torturous. This past week I was happily rewarded after waiting for what always seems to be an interminable amount of time, aka winter, with the first treasures of spring. Green, green everywhere.

I’ve written and talked about watching the edges of the roads I travel to give up and show me the first hints of spring green. This year was a little different. Instead of getting a little glimpse of green it was like, BANG! Brown turned to green. Well not exactly green like the fairway at a golf course in Georgia. But in my neck of the woods it’s turning green by leaps and bounds. But! Yes a bright green “but!” But I’ll still have to shovel snow off the green a few times before winter truly is over! I mean come on Mother Nature is a fickle lady we all duck and cover from occasionally. HAHA

When I think of all times and things I’ve spent waiting for a few giggles and memories float to the surface. For instance… At the airport… I do believe I just heard a huge “UGH!!!” from a multitude of fellow travelers. I haven’t traveled a zillion miles but I’ve gone from coast to coast my share of times. In my quest to always save a nickel I shop for good fares and try to match them up with good flight times. A falsehood at best. Going from west to east isn’t so bad, but coming home from east to west there always are a few bumps. Must be because there are so many more people on the east side of the Rockies. High flying along…

So I found a flight leaving in the early afternoon from Portland, Maine, to Las Vegas. Straight shot. Since we were going from Portland, Maine, to Reno it was kind of a good fit. Just a puddle jumper from Vegas to Reno. No problem. HAHA. We boarded on a fine sunny Maine afternoon. Tra-la. Tra-la. All was excellent until some silly thunder heads built up in the midwest, right in our flight path. Causing a domino effect. First we were headed west, then we turned south and because of weather we were going to land in Tennessee. I’ve never been to Tennessee so I thought, “Cool, I can get a Tennessee t-shirt.” Yes it was all about the t-shirts. Come on I was on vacation. Well I didn’t get the Tennessee t-shirt as the plane was turned more southerly and we ended up in Houston! And waited for whatever happens when you have to wait for flight plans and weather and a guy named Captain Morgan to get to the airport as you enjoy some Captain Morgan in the airport lounge!! If you look at a U.S. map Houston isn’t in the flight path between Portland, Maine. and Las Vegas. Mother Nature is a surprising woman!

After several hours in Houston we again were on our way. Tra-la. Tra-la. Off into the wild blue, well by then it was the wild black yonder. Already I could see we missed the Vegas-Reno flight. Did I hear another UGH? The flight from Houston to Vegas was a little bumpy but no stops. Got to Vegas after midnight and the next flight to Reno was — at 6 a.m. and it was full. So we waited, on the floor, with 77 other grateful dead. Was all of that waiting art treasure or torture? Well I took it in stride and enjoyed the 22 and a half hour cross country flight. Maybe there was a little torture but watching the art of lives played out around me was kinda treasure like. I mean really. Getting all huffy and puffy didn’t blow the clouds away or change the expression on the faces of the customer service people of the airlines. Just going with the flow made each and every single hour only seem like a quick 58 minutes and 120 seconds long!

So in remembering that, when I looked out my window this morning and noticed the grass in the lawn has suddenly turned green I was a happy anxious traveler as I walked out to check the battery on the lawn mower and get all stuff yard worthy ready to start my summer race. Ready? Set? Bang — Green and Go!

Trina lives in Eureka, Nevada. Follow her on Facebook or share with her at itybytrina@yahoo.com Really!