With so much anxiety and anger inside me right now, and with only continual downward sliding in the forecast, I’m gonna try and do a gratitude post, in the hopes I can arrest my broken mind and heart.
I’m grateful that
- I didn’t have any issues getting up this morning.
- My mom brought me a disposable water bottle, as I am quite unprepared for this travel day (no food with me).
- My mom drove me all the way to MCI.
- I was offered a free checked bag because it’s such a full flight. I was stressing a bit on how to get everything squished inside my bag to be able to get it to qualify for a carry-on.
- I have and remembered to bring working headphones.
- The airport charging ports were working at MCI and on the first plane (which I’m now sitting in)
- The Identifix customer service person was much more helpful than the previous. He initiated refunds the other customer service person said he wasn’t allowed to do, and he put in a request to waive the fees for the months they didn’t charge me and say I owe them, even though I’ve been on auto pay for years. So… hopefully I will get multiple refunds soon! 🤞
- The medical billing person was amenable to refunding my in-person fee from my PT appointment in November, so I could have the bill be over the $200 cut off that my insurance will actually cover.
- I had the emotional strength, as ridiculous as it sounds that I might not have the emotional strength, to go through the headache if submitting the bill to my insurance.
- That I was able to find crazy-cheap flight deals for my mom to make her visit out west in March/April.
- …
- I’m grateful that after a long day of very little food and liquid, I’m only pre-migraining at this point. 🥳
- I’m grateful that even though I had a bit of a debacle with my first car rental attempt, finding out that I needed documentation that I didn’t have and that Priceline rented the car from a different company than was listed when I clicked on it. Gratefully, both that company and Priceline let me out of the reservation and refunded the money, so I jumped on Expedia and got a new reservation, this time with Alamo car rental. And grateful Dee, that went super smoothly. 🥳
- I’m grateful that even though the USB charge port in the seat in front of me wasn’t working on my second plane, I had plenty of battery to make it from Seattle to Fairbanks, watching a couple of episodes of Castle along the way that I had downloaded.
- I’m grateful that I thought to download episodes using the airport Wi-Fi in Kansas City before I got on the plane. That made it easier to waste my life away in front of a screen without having to pay for internet access on the plane. 😅
- I’m grateful that being a T-Mobile customer has so many unexpected perks in so many places. T-Mobile customers onalask airlines apparently get free text messaging while on the plane without having to pay for a network connection. 🥳
- I’m grateful that Fairbanks is a dry cold. Amazingly, negative temperatures here. Feel warmer, in some ways, then the twenties in Arkansas. Maybe. I’m crazy, but I got out of the airport with I think negative 11° temperatures, and though it was cold, I didn’t feel the temperature cold so much on my skin. Really only my lungs notice the difference.
- I’m grateful that the place I’m staying tonight recommended that I go out and see if I can see the Northern lights tonight. Tonight and tomorrow night are the best nights in a little while. The super cold weather generally means clear skies, and that’s what I’ve got right now. Beautifully clear skies. So I’m dictating this as I drive up to Murphy dome, about 40 minutes outside out of Fairbanks, in the hopes that I’ll have the chance to see the Aurora Borealis. 🤞
- I know it’s pretty much a given here in Alaska, but I’m still grateful that my hotel has a place to plug in my block heater overnight. I need to plug it in overnight tonight and tomorrow, as both days are going to be super cold, well into the negatives.
- I’m grateful that I won’t need to use the block heater for my last two days here, as it will warm up enough to not be an issue.
- I’m grateful that the heater works in my rental car. I’m grateful that the heater works in my rental car
- I’m grateful that though the road to Murphy dome is covered in snow, it’s apparently hard packed enough that I’ve got decent traction. Otherwise, I might end up stuck out here all night in the bitter cold. 😅
- I’m grateful that my spine issues were better than I feared for my my trip out here. I’m certainly not great by any stretch of the imagination, but I wasn’t in misery.
- I’m grateful that I have a flexible work situation, so that I can be out here for my friend’s wedding and not have it be any kind of a complicated scenario.
- I’m grateful that I’ve been able to think of a whole bunch of things to be grateful for.
I’ll call that good for now, and I’ll write a summary post later.
Lift the world.
~ stephen
Lift the World 