"This Is Getting Weird": Navigating Life's Weird Ways

     One of the joys of creative writing is coming with one’s own universe of characters and personalities. There’s nothing like making a list of endless adventures the characters could go on or things they could say. In the past, I’ve written one-off scenes in my own sitcom of sorts, one that I’ve described to a few friends as a mix of shows like The Office and Friends, as well as having scenes inspired by moments and thoughts I’ve had in my own life. When I showed a few scenes to a friend once, there was one line that a friend really enjoyed, one that he said came up a few times: “this is getting weird”. Although that line is said by the sassy but fictional Jessica, there have been countless times in my life I have found myself thinking the same thing.

     Life can be weird. We can find ourselves in completely unexpected situations, ones that can be hard to explain (this where phrases like “long story short” or “TLDR” kick in). For me, some of the most notable experiences have been traveling related. There was the time I was flying home after my freshman year of college. My flight out of Dallas got delayed and I wouldn’t be able to make my connecting flight out of Boston. Naturally, I took a 3-hour bus ride up to New Hampshire and spent the night with my sister, where she was finishing up her senior year at Dartmouth. I woke up that morning thinking I would end the day in Virginia and ended up going to bed in New Hampshire instead. About a year a half ago, I found myself making an unexpected trip home (right as Hurricane Harvey was approaching Texas) and the only available option was to fly through – of all places – Pensacola, Florida. Flash forward to 3 weeks ago and I had an unexpected flight cancellation to my cousin’s wedding and when we re-booking the trip, my new flight was to…Pensacola. My road to family events goes through an unexpected flight to Pensacola, Florida.

     Now, in each of the situations above, everything worked out for the best. I got to spend time with my sister and fly home the next day, I made out of Houston and safely got to the East Coast that night, and I made it to my cousin’s wedding. Still, I can’t help but look back on how each trip has a bit of a weird, unexpected twist to it – two of which managed to involve a city on the Florida panhandle. Of course, weirdness isn’t just limited to traveling. All one has to do is stroll through the aisles at stores and find that items like Carrot Cake Muffin Bars and Birthday Cake protein bars exist or that there’s a market for a game called “Poop the Potato”. Shoot, in recent weeks, I’ve that there are all sorts of K-Cup flavors, including Peanut Butter & Jelly, as well as Blackberry (wouldn’t recommend this one). March Madness, quite possibly my favorite sporting event, is home to all sorts of weird results with buzzer beaters and Cinderella runs by schools like George Mason or Loyola-Chicago. The star of last year’s tournament was arguably…Sister Jean, a nun on the Loyola basketball team approaching 100 years old. March Madness never fails to deliver unexpected stars and moments.

     In our own everyday lives, I think just about everyone can think of times where they experienced a weird or bizarre scenario, whether that was an odd meeting, an awkward encounter with someone, or seeing a set of events unfold and not being able to fully process what just happened. One of the beauties of The Office was Jim Halpert’s reactions and camera stares. Admittedly, this is something that I’ve found myself doing in my own life when I encounter weird situations – staring in to an imaginary camera and making my best “Jim face” (side note: there is a YouTube video that has compiled every time Jim stares directly at the camera and it is fantastic). All of this is to say, life can get pretty weird at times. So how do we navigate through that?

     There’s a saying that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. Going by that saying, weird situations are the 10% of life and how we react to them fall into that 90%. That 90% is something that I’m still working on in my own life, especially for when situations get weird or just don’t go according to plan. The best thing that we can do to navigate weird situations is to go with the flow. Going with the flow is easy in theory – and certainly easy to tell someone else, but is so much harder to truly live out. Going with the flow means recognizing we’re not in control and rolling with the punches as they unfold. One is a lot better off when one reacts with peace and calmness (or even laughter) than if one reacts with anger or starts stressing out. Reacting the latter way is what leads to more problems and potential issues. Granted, people probably aren’t going to stress out when there’s blackberry K-Cups available, but they probably will when they have to make an unexpected change of travel plans or are in a meeting that’s going south. Still, there’s a true value to reacting and managing life’s weird ways in a healthy manner.

     As far as letting go of control goes, this also ties into realizing that God is God and that we’re not. When life does get weird or when the unexpected happens, those are the times we have to trust in God the most. Now, this isn’t a guarantee that all will work out or be perfect (it won’t), but trusting in God and His plan does give one that peace of mind and recognition that it’s God’s plan and perfect time, not our own. It’s a lot better handling those situations with the peaceful reminder that God is in control versus trying to lean our own understanding.

     As far as navigating weirdness by going with the flow goes, there’s one more important piece: enjoy it. Okay, that sounds weird to say on the surface, but hear me out: some of life’s most memorable events are weird. A simple trip home from college turned into an unexpected adventure of seeing my sister – one that’s still fun to look back on to this day. I haven’t spent much actual time in Pensacola, but I’ll always be a fan of their airport and the way it’s helped me out multiple times now. These events can be hard to fully enjoy in the moment (especially when stress and uncertainty are present), but they can become fond memories as time goes on.

     To close, I’m reminded by a memory of this past Thanksgiving. My parents and brother came to Houston for a few days, and I was the main person in charge of making the meal. As we got close to getting ready to eat, everything seemed to unravel: the mashed potatoes were way too milky (we had put the mix in first, then the milk) and the gravy for them was watery with a few chunks. And in the midst preparing them with my Dad, we both started laughing. Here was our Thanksgiving meal, milky mashed potatoes and watery gravy, and all we could do was laugh as we attempted to salvage it. That Thanksgiving meal may have had one of the oddest preparations ever, but it’s also one that I’ll always remember. And all things considered, the mashed potatoes and gravy weren’t that bad. Sometimes life gets weird and we’re just along for the ride. But those rides can be some of the most memorable ones of them all. Especially when they end with “Welcome to Pensacola”.

Three Magical Words: "Welcome to Pensacola"

I'ts easier to navigate the weirdness of life with family. My sister and I at the famed Pensacola airport