10 minutes

Whew what a day.  I woke up at 4:30 AM with that still small voice in my head saying get up now…I’m going to need the extra time.  My alarm wasn’t supposed to go off til 5:15 am and that 45 minutes sure seemed good, especially since I didn’t got to be til 1:00 AM anyways.  So I laid there and argued with that voice in my head…is it God speaking to me…or is it my voice.  Im convinced its God as he and I have conversations.  You’d think I’d learn by now not to argue….but no…I laid in bed for an extra 10 minutes then I got up.  Thinking 30 min. early should give me plenty of time.  My father graciously offered to drop me off at the airport, return the rental car, and take a taxi back to the hotel in case I ran into any problems.  I declined at first thinking myself wholly self sufficient…then I second guessed and Im so glad I did.  We left the hotel at 5:30 am…but had to wait for the Valet to get the car about 10 minutes.  Then we found the airport but had to gas up the rental car…we found a gas station but it was on the other side of the street.  We got gas…then couldn’t find a place to make a U-turn.  I think Arabs and the Middle East in general don’t believe in the right for a vehicle to make a left hand turn.  Its almost impossible.  So our little detour cost us 20 minutes..this when we were two minutes from the airport.  So I check the baggage, and my father offers to wait while I check in, just in case.  At this point its 6:45 a full one hour and twenty minutes before my flight leaves.  I was bringing back some equipment from Dubai…namely a video mixer in a self-contained shipping box.  It was 53 Kilograms.  I just thought I’d have to pay an overweight fee.  But no, the ticket agent wouldn’t let me check in.  I begged and pleaded…but no way.  The only thing I could do was take it to Air Cargo.  So I brought all my stuff back to my father whom I was glad had waited.  If I had returned the rental car by myself with all that baggage, I would have been in a  world of hurt.  So we quickly made it to cargo village.  I found Emirates air…which also traveled to Bahrain.  I checked it in, they weighed…then I had to go through customs and a bunch of other hurdles.  Once I got finished paying….I got out of cargo at 7:45…my flight left in 20 minutes at 8:05.  So we found the airport and I rushed out of the car…I said goodbye to my dad, gave him instructions to the rental car then ran inside hoping that I still had time to make it through the immense Dubai Intl. terminal to make my flight.  I was through the security check and headed to the counter when my dad came in screaming…Rick…rick.  Apparently I had the keys to the rental car in my pocket.  I threw him the keys over the x-ray security machine said goodbye and ran to the counter.  I got to the counter at 7:55 am…they wouldn’t let me check in because they close it 20 minutes prior to the flight departure.  So essentially missed the flight by 10 minutes.  Do you think I wanted that 10 minutes back that I argued with God early that morning?  You bet.  So I lost the ticket too.  It wasn’t that big of a deal because the ticket was only $30 usd.  So I didn’t panic.  I looked around the airport and found another airline, Bahrain Air with a flight that left in 90 minutes.  The ticket set me back about $100 bucks…but I was glad to find a flight.  I was worried I might now make it back to m acting class.  But now..I can still make it.  I think it was a little lesson that I learned.  Not hit the snooze button when God calls. 

So I made to acting class and Im glad I was able to keep that commitment.  The children and teens are harder to teach because they are smaller classes.  I get much more enjoyment from the adults, because I feel like I can share more of my life experiences.  There is more mutual pain to consider and share amongst the grown ups.  I really feel like the class is growing not only in acting ability, but personally.  That brings a great deal of fulfillment.  After the class we all went out to dinner together…There were about 9 of us…or half the class.  We are all starting to build very strong friendships and relationships together.  That is a great feeling.