How Murphy’s Law Tested Me—Part 2:
Chaos in Motion
So there I was, trying to maintain my calm after the laundry debacle. But my errands weren’t over yet. I had one last thing to do before I could take a nap: I needed to pick up my asthma meds and some vitamins from the pharmacy. I always stock up when I travel abroad because it’s easier and cheaper.
I made my way to the pharmacy, collected everything I needed, and went to pay. The first card I tried was declined. Puzzled, I swiped another one—declined again. Now I was confused.
Suddenly, I received an email notification: my cards had been flagged for fraud. OF COURSE. I had notified the bank of my travel plans ahead of time, so why were they doing this now?!
At that point, I was losing precious sleep hours and couldn’t figure out how to resolve it right away. I left the pharmacy, called a car to pick me up, and headed back to my place. Despite everything, I reminded myself not to force things when roadblocks appear. I’d cooked earlier that day, and I didn’t want to waste the food, so I offered it to the two staff members working the overnight shift at my building. They were thrilled.
Doing something kind for others, especially when my own life feels chaotic, always brings me peace. And honestly, that moment was a much-needed silver lining.
But if you think the story ends here—oh no, there’s more. LOL. Of course, there’s more.
The next morning, I made it to the airport for my connecting flight to Miami. Just when I thought I was in the clear, I saw customs agents randomly pulling people aside. And, naturally, I got flagged.
The guy who signaled me over wasn’t in uniform, just plain clothes, so at first, I didn’t realize what was happening. I wasn’t going to look down just because he was staring into my eyes—I’m not subservient! So he flagged me over for a random check.
They wanted to search my bags, and I didn’t make it easy for them. I asked all the questions—was I being detained? What was the suspicion? I even asked for a supervisor. The woman officer was particularly rude and started yelling at me, even threatening to detain me. It was chaos.
At that moment, the male officer said, "If you have nothing to hide, why are you resisting?" And I shot back, "Just like you have rights, so do I." Eventually, I told them who I was, and things quickly de-escalated. They got the woman away from me, but not before I told them that if they couldn’t find a supervisor, I’d be happy to sit there all day. I had another flight in the morning, so I literally had nowhere else to be. LOL. The guy practically begged me not to.
By this point, I’d accepted that my week was going to be one big rollercoaster. But I was still keeping my cool.
You’d think getting through customs was the last of my worries—but nope, the chaos had just begun.