08 Jun Of Derailed Plans and Rewards
Last weekend was a big lesson on non-attachment. In the Buddhist and Jainist philosophies, attachment or attraction to worldly possessions and wealth make a person more unhappy because he or she is more likely to commit sin to acquire and hold on to what he/she has. It refers to something we hold on to but also something that holds on to us, or the things that we allow to own us. As humanly desires have no end, this leads to a continuous cycle of self-destruction and unhappiness.
Originally, I made plans to cross off one of the items on my bucket list—to go skydiving, something I have always wanted to do since I saw Point Break. I was going to do it somewhere in Ohio, with this wonderful woman that I connected with at the Landmark Forum. We put in our deposits, watched the safety video, and signed the waivers. I was scheduled to do it on Saturday, June 1st at 10am! I was finally gonna follow in the footsteps of Johnny Utah…only with a parachute and in tandem with an instructor.
(Cue the bad acting courtesy of Keanu Reeves...)
My United Airlines flight from Miami was scheduled to leave at 4:30pm on Friday. It was initially delayed 40 minutes, then another 1 hour and 30 minutes. Thank goodness, I had Priority Pass, and got to chill in the VIP Lounge with my Espolon Tequila Sunrise, soup, salad, and sandwich from their buffet.
We finally got on the runway at around 6:30pm, only for the captain to announce that because of the strong winds and adverse weather conditions in Newark (where my connecting flight was), our flight path was modified 450 miles west, which indicated that we would not have enough fuel to make it to Newark. We had to go back to the gate to refuel! I could not even make this up. We finally left Miami International at 7:30pm. Because of the craziness and all the delays, the captain gave the go-ahead to give everyone over the drinking age free alcohol. I gotta say, their Cabernet Sauvignon is not the best but—yay!
After a little bit over 3 hours, we finally landed in Newark a little bit over 10:30pm. My connecting flight left and I was automatically booked to the next flight at 9pm the next day, meaning that I would not only miss my jump time, but I would essentially arrive in the Canton/Akron airport almost on Sunday and leave early on Monday morning—what’s the point? I looked at the United app and saw that there was a very early flight on Saturday morning that would leave La Guardia at 6am and arrive in Cleveland at 10am. Cleveland is another hour away from where our jump site was so I would still miss the the jump. So I made a decision to just cancel all my plans in Ohio and stay in New York City where I could stay with my family and enjoy the city in the summer.
I took an almost $70 Lyft ride to my mom’s apartment, arrived at around 2pm, with my mom, my brother, my sister-in-law, and the cutest nephew in the world to welcome me with open arms and wet kisses. It was perfect.
The next morning, I woke up to a gorgeous New York summer day. I did errands with my mom and we spent some quality time together. I also got ahold of my twin sister to hang with her on Saturday night. She was so excited that by a serendipitous stroke of luck, I was in New York, because she was planning to go to the Governor’s Ball Music Festival on Saturday. I was beyond thrilled—I have been wanting to attend Govball for years but it just never panned out.
It was better than I could hope for. I got to see some really great acts: Ty Dolla $ign, The 1975, Florence and the Machine, Major Lazer, and the best show of the night, ZHU. Speaking of non-attachment, I gotta say, Major Lazer used to be incredible, and I have seen them on more than one occasion. But I got the feeling that Diplo is just kinda phoning it in now and the music is just not as kickass as it used to be. On the other hand, ZHU was just mind-blowing and it was even better because I met an incredible girl who I really connected with. Her name is Andrea and she is pure positivity and inspiration. She ended up giving me her 3-day festival bracelet so I could see Kaytranada and The Strokes the next day.
Sunday started out as a glorious New York summer day. I got to ride the NYC Ferry from Astoria to East 34th Street in Manhattan. It was such a pleasant ride and the perfect way to get around. Went to the Met to check out the incredibly stunning Tale of the Genji exhibit and the super fun CAMP: Notes on Fashion. Went up to the Cantor Roof Garden Bar with dazzling views of Central Park and had a cocktail with my sweet sister-in-law while my nephew was napping. Then took the train downtown and had yummy brunch at Bar Primi and cocktails at the Public Hotel Rooftop (which was on my list of places to check out anyway!!!). Finally we had dimsum and noodles at the famous Congee Village.
View from the Cantor Rooftop Bar at the Met
View from the Public Hotel Rooftop
Later on that evening, I went back to Randall’s Island for Day 3 of Govball. The festival had a late start and Kaytranada was not scheduled to play until 9:30pm. I got a spot in the very front (per usual). At around 9:20pm, the screens displayed an evacuation warning and 10 minutes later, Kaytranada came out to apologize to the fans.
Kaytranada apologizing
As we all started to evacuate the grounds, the skies opened up and we were assaulted by torrential rains and strong winds. Fortunately, I was under the RFK (AKA Triborough Bridge) and had shelter. The rains stopped at around 10:30pm and got in at around 11pm. Hung out with the sis, slept for a few hours, then left on a plane to go back to sunny Miami at 6am the next day.
Many may say that things happen for a reason, that certain events are meant-to-be, and there was an explanation why things happened the way they did. Others may argue that it’s all random and meaningless. But regardless of how you look at it, every day, we have an opportunity to take everything that life brings us, whether they be “good” or “bad”. And then you realize that “good” or “bad” is really just a story we tell ourselves, and it is all relative. We put whatever meaning we want/know to a particular thing based on our past, our motivations, and our desires. It is really up to us to determine if an event is something wonderful and life-changing, or sad and traumatic. I usually try to choose the first one. It’s not easy to do this all the time, but every day is a new day and a new space to be better.
As spiritual author Ron W. Rathbun wrote, “True detachment isn’t a separation from life but the absolute freedom within your mind to explore living.”
Lots of love,
Paula