Following the Road

I'm preparing for two fabulous trips. Yesterday, I made my final list and plotted the points on my crazy errand run. Made sure each stop made the most sense, yielded the least amount of driving time, yadda yadda schmadda. Despite my best, type-A planning, the numbered, ordered stops jumped out of their spaces on my list (gasp). They became sporadic, like atoms heated from below. A slice...

I drove to two destinations (one of which included a divine Diet Coke from McDonalds). Then I drove to stop three. I forgot the gift card I needed. I drove back home. I drove back to the store, even checking to make sure there wasn't a more convenient location to the other stores I needed. I'd driven to the wrong store. I drove to the right store (which was adjacent to the aforementioned other stores). Ugh. Then I doubled-back to another store....

As this chaos mightily tried to unnerve me, I surprised myself.

I breathed. In. And then out. (And repeated many, many times.) My pre-trip nerves (unfortunately ever present and usually quite persistent) exhaled along with me. I blasted my iPod. Then, I allowed the spirited chase of uncertainty to be my guide. I let the unknown to settle in. And then...I smiled. I enjoyed a glorious afternoon of relinquished control.

Sometimes, I think I know where the road is supposed to go. And then, the road twists, throwing curves, blinding me with its unpredictability...while taking me in a new direction, a different direction and, I dare I say, the right direction.