Right, so I was all set to head out, you know, had my jersey packed and everything. Plans were locked in. Get to the airport, feeling pretty good, ready for a bit of a break and some football excitement.
Then I saw the board. DELAYED. Not just a little bit, either. Hours. First, it was one hour, then two, then they just kinda stopped updating with specifics for a while. You know how that goes. Just stuck. Everyone’s grumbling, milling around. I found a spot, tried to get comfortable on those awful airport chairs.
So there I was, trapped. Couldn’t go anywhere, nothing much to do. Phone battery started draining, of course. I started just watching people, thinking. It’s funny what goes through your head when you’re forced to just stop. All the stuff I’d been rushing through the week before, deadlines, emails, that project I kept pushing back because there was “no time”.
Well, suddenly I had time. Lots of it.
I pulled out my notebook. Not the laptop, just an old-school paper notebook. Started sketching out ideas for that project. The one I’d told myself was too complicated to start. With nothing else demanding my attention, no emails popping up, no one stopping by my desk, the ideas just started flowing. Weird, right? Stuck in an airport, supposed to be frustrated about missing the pre-game stuff, but my brain just clicked into gear on something totally different.
I spent hours just scribbling, planning, outlining. Didn’t even notice the time passing after a while. They finally called boarding eventually, much, much later. Got to my destination super late, completely missed all the buzz I was looking forward to before the game. The game itself? Honestly, by that point, my head was full of this other thing I’d mapped out.
- Flight finally took off.
- Landed way behind schedule.
- Missed the whole pre-game experience.
Looking back, that delay was kind of a forced reset. Yeah, the original plan got messed up, totally derailed. But sitting there, disconnected, bored… it actually gave me the space to kickstart something I’d been procrastinating on for ages. I actually got back and started working on that notebook stuff right away. Made some real progress.
It’s strange how things work out. You plan for one thing, life throws a wrench in it, and you end up focusing on something completely unexpected. That whole “49ers delayed” situation ended up being less about the game I almost missed and more about the time I gained for something else I needed to do. Didn’t see that coming.