Oh, to live simply a/k/a How to be happy when a bird totals your jet plane

As I sit here in the Atlanta Airport awaiting my flight after a most disastrous day, I ponder this amazing poem.

I Taught Myself To Live Simply by Anna Akhmatova

I taught myself to live simply and wisely,

to look at the sky and pray to God,
and to wander long before evening
to tire my superfluous worries.
When the burdocks rustle in the ravine
and the yellow-red rowanberry cluster droops
I compose happy verses
about life's decay, decay and beauty.
I come back. The fluffy cat
licks my palm, purrs so sweetly
and the fire flares bright
on the saw-mill turret by the lake.
Only the cry of a stork landing on the roof
occasionally breaks the silence.
If you knock on my door

I may not even hear. 

Oh, to be simple in life and eloquent in speech!

Today, a bird flew into the engine of my airplane destined for Atlanta and totaled the plane. Literally.  Then, with all planes grounded out of Atlanta, I took the only road that would get me to St. Louis in time for the workshop tomorrow... I drove.

As Providence would have it, I had three amazing people who rode with me, including Roni, the woman responsible for the Ed Tech Leadership program at Albany State University, of all things!  She has contacts in India for Flat Classroom.

And as it would have it, if we had taken off as planned, if the little birdie hadn't been in the wrong place at the wrong time, that plane would have been turned back to Albany because of Bad weather in Atlanta.

So, the little birdie died for a reason, I guess.  And the ride was quite pleasant.  We didn't stress, we just laughed about it and rode on.

So, we can still live in simplicity even when your jet plane is totalled and your flight is cancelled and your gate changes three times.

OK, time to board.