I am writing from a Comfort Inn and Suites only a mile or so from the John Glenn Columbus International Airport. I booked a last-minute flight to New York City for early tomorrow morning. I haven't been to NYC since January, 2014. I haven't been on a plane since 2018.
As I write this, I can tell my anxiety has dropped! I've had an unusually bad spell of nerves/depression that really got going this past Friday, which I was given as my day off (something that never happens!) to compensate for me coming in on my normal days off to help conduct our semi-annual inventory.
I wasn't expecting to have any trouble, thinking I would savor a TGIF, especially knowing my vacation week (submitted the first of the year as required) was only one last workday away, meaning my vacation started yesterday.
When the troubles set in, I just knew I had to "get out of Dodge" for a few days if at all possible. So here I am two days later.
Driving through Columbus, something I rarely have an excuse to do, I was thinking about the Ohio State reunion I just attended last month and how much I enjoyed reliving my journalism days at the Lantern, OSU's student newspaper.
By the way, as I write from my king-sized bed I'm watching on cable TV a replay of the Ohio State-Indiana game that OSU won 19-15 Saturday afternoon while I was at work.
This is definitely the only team I would ever watch already knowing the outcome. What's fun is just now Indiana (undefeated going into the game with a 22-win streak--can you say "SNAP!") scored and think they're still very much in it.
So, speaking of former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn, I have a funny little story about meeting him.
One of the very first stories I covered as a general reporter for the Lantern was a press conference Glenn, running for reelection, held outdoors on a Saturday morning at the Ohio State Fairgrounds.
Not owning a car, I rode my bike to the event wearing a nice dress blouse and dress slacks. I arrived a few minutes after the press conference was under way and locked up my bike to a tree only yards away from Glenn and the pool of professional newspaper reporters along with a few TV people.
Everyone could see me arrive and I had sweat rolling down my face as I entered "the pack," quickly whipping out my reporter notepad and pen to get the story.
I barely had a chance to catch my breath, though, before Glenn was finished with his statements and opened the thing up to questions. Unbelievably, he said to me, "How about you, miss? Do you have a question?"
I remember my hot face getting even more flush as I panicked in my head, thinking, "What in the world am I going to say?!!!" I also thought, "Why is he doing this to me?! Doesn't he realize I'm just a beginning reporter?!"
All I remember next is Glenn immediately recognizing he caught me off-guard (even though I'd written many preparatory notes the night before) and saying something like, "I want to tell you about . . . "
Glenn could not have been more gracious and after the whole thing wrapped up, he came up to me and we shook hands. He already figured out I was from Ohio State and asked me a few questions about how I liked being in their journalism program. I remember boasting to him that I was also majoring in political science . . .
Well, I've got my laptop going with me to NYC and I will be sure to give an update tomorrow evening. I've got to try and go to bed soon as the shuttle runs on the hour, meaning I have to be ready to get on it at 7 a.m.
I can tell you that I feel much, much better writing new material for this blog rather than copping out and posting something old. I think part of my anxiety comes from knowing I'm not following through on my commitment to write no matter what.