Dream Scenes: Jared

Jared looked over his flight information before dozing off. He was set to fly out of Kennedy Airport tomorrow at 8:45 am on flight 727 headed for LAX. His presentation was all in order and all systems were go for the big merger meeting to take place in Los Angeles. This important meeting had been in the planning stages for weeks and he felt no one could carry it off better then he. All seemed right with the world. He set the alarm for 6:00 am giving him ample time for a shower, cup of coffee and a nice ride to the terminal. At 7:00 am he woke with a start realizing that the alarm had not gone off.

Jared flew out of bed took a quick shower, called the concierge for a driver, grabbed his carry-on, notebook and presentation and headed out into the hall. The elevators were full of tourists and business people heading off to work. He had no time for this, so he ran down 7 flights of stairs. He got to the lobby and was told the driver has not yet arrived. He told the concierge to forget it and ran out to hail a cab. He lucked out, got a cabby’s attention and they headed for Kennedy. Stuck in a traffic jam, Jared looked at his watch and it was 8:15 am. He yelled at the cabby, “Hurry up, Man, I am going to miss my flight!” The cabby apologized but said there was nothing he could do, traffic was just not moving. Jared asked if there was a side street they could take to get around this crowded freeway, anything? The cabby just shook his head no. Finally, traffic started moving at at crawl. Time was ticking away audibly in Jared’s ears.

Or maybe it was the sound of his blood pulsing through his brain with his obviously elevated blood pressure. They finally arrived at the terminal at 8:44 am. Jared bolted from the cab tossing the cabby more than the fare because he had no time to wait for change. He ran up the escalator nearly toppling an old woman with a cane, making a mad dash for the gate. He arrived with boarding pass in hand only to be told he was too late, the plane was already leaving the tarmac.

Jared tried but could not get another flight that would get him to the meeting on time. He had no choice but to ask for help. He called the corporate office in L.A. and found some who was known to be a good negotiator and asked her if he could fax everything over for the presentation. She was happy to comply. Jared, still in a funk, picked up a six-pack and headed back to his room to drown his sorrows. He turned on the TV and heard the news that Flight 727 headed for LAX had met with severe turbulence and had lost an engine to a freak wind shear. The plane crash landed killing 27 people aboard and injuring dozens more. (Side note: The merger went through just fine.)

Moral #1 Don't think all road blocks are put up to ruin your life, sometimes they are blessings in disguise.

Moral #2 Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. As unique as we o believe we are, there are others just as capable.

Moral #3 Life happens! Always, always have a plan b...