I recently went to California and had a catastrophe on my way home. I had a connecting flight from LAX to Las Vegas then Las Vegas to Denver. Although I had transferred flights in Las Vegas, my luggage did not. After arriving in Denver, I got to spend about an hour and a half communicating with baggage services, trying to locate my stuff. Now keep in mind, I had packed for 3 weeks and took lots of camera equipment with me. The woman at the service desk was extremely kind, but I could tell they were slightly panicking as they had no clue where my luggage was. The woman helping me stated that if my luggage wasn't found, I would have to go through a list of everything I packed to be reimbursed.

To be honest, I really didn't care that my bags were lost. I was so happy to be home and it was just "stuff". "Stuff" can be replaced, so I was extremely calm the whole time. In fact, I was distracted most of the time laughing with my family who had come to pick me up. Catastrophe didn't hit me until we were driving home and I was preparing myself to create a list of everything I packed in case my luggage didn't come up.

Tripod and Bag of camera lenses- Bummer if gone, but I still have one lens with me, which is all I need.

Bible- I have several versions back home

Favorite "loving life" shirt- It's okay, I'll just ask Zane for a new one.

Cute skirts and dresses- Eh dressing up is overrated.

Dare2Share book- Bill has tons in his office, I'll be fine.

Sleeping bag- We have plenty of extras at home.

Hammock- ....NO. NOT MY HAMMOCK.

What on earth was I going to do without my hammock?! I take it with me literally everywhere. It's the perfect size to fit in my small bag as I travel and whip out at any moment I want to relax. Anytime we are near trees, my mind is immediately wired to imagine the perfect layout for hammocks to be set up. Sometimes I read a nice book in my hammock, lay back and play the ukulele, or even just take a quick cat-nap. Other times, a whole group comes with their hammocks to just talk and laugh together. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that my hammock is my lifeline so this was a big deal!

But no worries, this story has a positive ending! My luggage was located and returned peacefully.

Now I know that this isn't actually a catastrophe...But I personally found it funny and I hope it brought a little laugh to you as stress levels are rising with school starting soon. So as chaos rolls around and school papers need to be written, consider investing in a hammock, it will be well worth it!