My kind friend picked us up from our hotel to take us to the airport, but when I opened the back of his car to fetch our luggage, my heart hit the gas pedal. Missing was my suitcase with all my clothes. Anyone who has known me for a few decades knows this is the sort of thing I did a lot in my 20s. Since then though, I’ve become pretty good at not being forgetful or absent minded.

With my heart still working overtime I called the hotel from the curb and was disappointed to hear (after an excruciating wait on hold before a human got on the line) that they didn’t have my bag. That made no sense. My buddy provided good advice: call ‘em back in half an hour once you’re at your gate. Once we said our goodbyes and headed into the (quite lovely and small) Santa Barbara airport, I was in full Dharma Practice Mode, focusing hard on ‘letting go’ of what I was not in charge of any more. Honestly, I thought I did a pretty good job, though my wife would likely disagree with that assessment. Compared to me ten or twenty years ago, I was definitely handling things relatively well in my head.

Once we got some grub and found a spot of wall to hunker down at, I called the hotel again. This time they said they had the bag and would be happy to send it back to my UPS and that they’d use the credit card info they had on file. The cascade of positive feeling that flooded my body upon hearing the good news was better than I anticipated it would be. I’d liken it to the experience I had seeing Rush outside Philly back in 2004 and realizing after an amazing 9 songs in the first set, that I still had YYZ, The Trees, The Seeker, and One Little Victory left in the first set. Pure bliss!

Needless to say I feel grateful that my absentmindedness didn’t cost me too much. I will also go forth with more vigilance and spacial awareness, at least until this lesson has faded, as they all do. Shout out to Santa Barabara too, for coming through with the save. My friend’s helpful vibes and final text from yesterday sums up my departing sentiments exactly.