Sunday, August 22, 2010

London: Life lessons

It was two days after the whole laptop debacle. In a work-induced stupor I had left my life (otherwise known as my aging PC) in the back seat of a New York taxi, complete with my monthly receipts — bound for an expense report — and all my notes on a new magazine I was working on. The depths of my despair was debilitating to say the least. It's hard to explain but put it this way, it made me seriously ponder how many laptop-left-in-taxi induced suicides there were per year.

The next day I was due to board a plane to London. Would the laptop show?

Very long story short, the answer is yes. Having had the credit card receipt in hand, the taxi depot were able to track down the driver who promptly returned my treasures an hour before I was due to leave for the airport. I'm not sure which was worse, the faint-worthy relief of having found it or the exhausting trauma of the past 24 hours thinking it might never show. Either way the ramifications, both good and bad, were tantamount to a slight case of Post Traumatic Stress syndrome.

In made me realize though — as did others who went home immediately and backed up their computers — that some instances in life, a single moment in time, as trivial as they may seem to others, can be life changing. Realizing for instance that working yourself into an early grave makes time fly by all too fast, carrying thirteen bags at the one time doesn't do you any favors and most importantly, that there is always time, can make you see the world a little more clearly.

Regardless of how busy you are, there is always time to stop and take a breath. There is always time to enjoy the moment. And today's to-do list is only tomorrow's kitty litter.

And so, life goes on. You board the plane to London and soon find yourself sitting in a private box at the Royal Albert Hall listening to the Australian Youth Orchestra, with your own butler providing champagne and bite-sized morsels of tender, tasty treats. And you think, thank goodness you hadn't taken the jumping-off-the Brooklyn Bridge option, I'm going to enjoy each and every moment of this. And then of course, you close your eyes to savor the stunning sounds and fall off the seat having finally succumbed to sleep deprivation. Still, it was worth it.