Whenever I mention household chores or life’s mundane tasks or my busy schedule, I inevitably receive hysterical responses on Facebook and Twitter — asking me why I’m doing my own laundry or cleaning the bathroom or why I’m driving myself when I could use a car service. Some even suggest “my staff” should do it for me. Haha! I am a staff of one (unless you count my pets). No entourage, no assistant, no staff and I prefer to do it myself anyway. Somehow people get this idea that working in TV and Radio automatically means you have an unlimited supply of money, resources, and manpower at your disposal. Nothing could be futher from the truth. Though I love my life and my jobs, there’s nothing glamorous about them. I’m an average girl who’s blessed with a career about which I am passionate. I also have a knack for getting myself into the most ridiculous situations; and from the last week, I have two stories to share which illustrate the decided LACK of glamour in my life.
After a basketball game on CBS Sports Network last Saturday, I sat in the Birmingham airport waiting for my flight to depart from Charlotte. Unbeknownst to me, three inches of snow in North Carolina was about to throw the whole mid-Atlantic into flux. After hearing a few announcements about the flight being delayed, I started to worry about my connection in Charlotte and getting home for my CBS Sports Radio show that night. I spoke to a US Airways ticket agent and re-booked on a later connection; but I also noticed everything in the airport shutting down: restaurants, Starbucks (thankfully, I snagged a coffee first), even TSA. There were no other options in Birmingham. Either get to Charlotte that night or get stuck. US Airways warned of no hotel rooms in either location, so we were likely to spend the night in an airport if we couldn’t reach our final destinations. With all of my work responsibilities on Sunday, staying put was not an option; and when they cancelled our flight six-and-a-half hours later, I had to find another way out. Using my new iPhone and my mom (on her computer in Ohio), I discovered an alternate route home…from Atlanta! Before the rental car counters all shut down, I paid through the nose for a one-way rental; hopped in the car with a travel companion who I met in line and who was, thankfully, NOT an ax murderer; and made the three-hour trek across the interstate to Atlanta. Yep, so glamorous!
In Atlanta, there was no place to sit since dozens of other people were stranded by the massive snowstorm in Charlotte. The only option was the floor of the terminal where I sat off and on for the next three hours, using Twitter to keep me company. I also spent an hour on the phone with my radio show, telling stories and talking sports with the fill-in host. When I finally landed in Newark aroun 9:30am, I’d been up 26 hours and felt like a zombie. The muddled brain would explain why I nearly broke down in tears when I couldn’t find the parking lot. I’m pretty sure the airport attendant thought I was mentally unstable as I tried to described where I left my car. Then the parking charge was nearly $100 which almost caused me to cry again. Ha! No time for tears, though, since I had to be in Hartford for a women’s basketball game in 3 hours. It was the game of the year against the first-place club as well as our annual Pink game to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. Unfortunately, I had no time to stop at my house so I was the only one in the arena NOT wearing pink. In fact, my only option was the suit I wore on TV the day before. Luckily, it didn’t smell too bad. SO glamorous.
After the game, I had to jump back in the car and return to New York for my Sunday night radio show. Don’t ask me how I remained coherent, though I was main-lining coffee. My producer managed to snag some great guests, including the Miami player who nailed the game-winning shot against Clemson AND my favorite media writer from Sports Illustrated, Richard Dietsch. But I vaguely remember putting my head down during commercials and being unable to keep me eyes open while talking. By the time I got home after the show, I’d been awake 43 straight hours! Insane, even for me. That’s my new record.
Thankfully, I slept for nearly 6 hours before it was time to head back to CBS and host an afternoon show on President’s Day. Surprisingly, I felt good which sets up my final story of the weekend — my “welcome to NYC” moment. Because I felt good, I dressed up in a sweater and nice pants, my 3-inch heels, and a brand new winter white coat. The show went very well, and I received a ton of compliments so I was feeling even better when I stepped on the subway platform in Manhattan. That’s when I heard a pop and felt something oozing into my shoe. I looked down to discover a ketchup packet exploded all over my right heel and up my black pant leg. All I had in my bag were a couple oatmeal packets, so I smeared the ketchup around with those. On the crowded subway platform, people saw the red goo and assumed I was bleeding so they began to stare. However, when they finally caught a whiff of the ketchup, the stares turned to snickers. I finally smeared enough ketchup away to roll my pant leg back down, only to feel it oozing all down the INSIDE of my pants. Eeewww! Double eeeewww! I smelled like ketchup all the way through my dinner appointment. Awesome and especially glamorous.
I’ve made dozens of people laugh with my stories in the last few days, even sharing the ketchup incident on Twitter. So now you know — my life is not the least bit glamorous. It’s humorous and ludicrous and ridiculous and there are times when I’m delirous. But I wouldn’t change a thing. Who wants glamour anyway??
Play by Play Day by Day with Amy Lawrence 