Road Trip

Who has NOT been on a rode trip? Can you believe the magnitude of planning that goes into a road trip? Packing the suit case(s) and making sure you have clothing for any occassion or weather is a chore all on its own, but let's not forget the road maps (thank heaven for GPS!), adequate funds for emergencies and gas, making sure the vehicle is in proper running order and has all fluids topped off and tire pressure checked, snacks and other food and beverage stapels stored nicely in a cooler, and a quick prayer for safety and good weather. Wow! I am exhausted just from typing the list. Can you imagine how beautiful it would be to go on a road trip with the clothes on your back, someone else's credit card, and just the open road, no planning what so ever? I think that would be beautiful. No need to be anywhere at any particular time in no particular style. That would be fun and relaxing. Kind of makes me think of the movie Joe Verses the Volcanoe with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (well the part about using someone else's credit card anyway).

While I was thinking on what an awesome road trip that would be I also started to think about how overwhelming real road trips are and thought how wonderful it would be to just hop on your own private jet (paid for of course with someone else's credit card!) and just GO to where ever it is you want to go! No real time required or effort for that matter.

So, after my little fantasy I came back to the real world and began to have real thoughts. Life is absolutely like a road trip. I was thinking about what kind of personality I have. Do I have the type that wants to hop on the helicopter and just skip all the preparation in life and just get to the end result quick and easy? Do I have the personality of the overcompulsive planner who makes a list checking it twice before loading everything and everyone into the vehicle? I concluded that I am neither. I am much more the type that says, "I want to go on road trip. That will be so much fun. Wow, we can go here and here and oh, we just have to stop and see so and so and can we please make sure and save time for this?" And then this is what would come out of my mouth or enter my mind almost immediately following the first reaction of excitement and thrill. "How will we pay for it, what if 20 miles into the trip we blow a tire, and what are we going to do if I get car sick in 3 weeks on the return trip, and what about the people we meet along the way, what if they don't like me or think we are crazy tourists and have no clue how to drive and they just want to run us off the road, and what about....". Exhausting being me sometimes. Can you believe that stuff? That is what I do in life! Unbelievable I know. I realized this sad truth about myself the other day when I was worrying myself to hives over something that is literally 5000 miles down the road in the road trip called life.

I am grateful for the realization of this character flaw of mine. I can't believe it took me this long to get the hint that so many loved ones have been trying to tell me. I suppose it is because, one I am a stubborn person and insist on learning the hard way and two, I am a visual learner, so when I came up with the idea of comparing myself to a road trip I relly saw what I was doing to myself and my family.

So, rather than literally freaking out all the time I am from here on out going to stop worrying about all the stuff that is so far down the road that I have absolutely no control over. I am going to relax, enjoy the present company in "the car", be thrilled about detours and pit stops and look for the positive opportunities in each. Now, if you can imagine what the pit stops and detours would be in life you can imagine what a new challenge this will be for me. But ultimately I believe the key to a happy road trip is loving and being happy with your choices and travel companions.