To Go or Not to Go
As I write this blog, I am sitting on a porch overlooking a valley that is surrounded by majestic mountains in Leadville, Colorado. Leadville is the highest altitude town in the US - 10,162 feet. My sister lives here and we have made this a family vacation spot since our children were young. Today (August 1) is my 40th wedding anniversary, and we had hoped to make a big trip to celebrate it. With travel being a bit restricted now, we decided instead to take a road trip to Leadville and meet family and friends there. But we had quite a rocky start.
The day before we left, we spent several hours at the emergency vet with our dog, Arthur. He is in palliative care right now with a large mass on his heart and we learned that day that the cancer is now visible in his lungs. Poor boy! It was not a good time to leave him. But his caregiver adores him (she named her pet sitting business after him) and we thought it was divinely guided that she could spend this quality time with him at this important juncture. He is her pal too.
Trying to get a good night's sleep in preparation for a long days drive, we were rudely awakened by loud buzzing alarm on my husband's phone, alerting us of a tornado warning. It was annoying...we needed to sleep! But just minutes later a crazy Wizard-of-Oz-like storm hit. All around us were gusting winds and the sounds of loud cracking and thudding. Our power went out and we could briefly and intermittently see when the lightning flashed. The storm only lasted about 30 minutes and we did our best to get some sleep after that. I awoke early the next morning to survey the damage. About 10 mature trees were down. Dozens of tree tops and limbs had been sheared off. Some of these had been hurled twenty yards through the air. The truck we planned to drive to Colorado was thankfully spared, but the left rear view mirror was taken out by one of those hurling treetops. Our driveway was blocked by a fallen maple tree. It looked like the post hurricane messes we experienced five times while living in Florida and Houston.
Was this a sign that we shouldn't go on our trip? I mean, our pup was sick, we had no power, our property was a complete mess, and we couldn't get out of the driveway. My husband spent three and a half hours chain sawing a clear path. He was sweaty and exhausted and we completely missed our 8 am departure time. But with all that, we decided to press ahead. Sleep deprived and a bit cranky, it was a rough first day of driving. But miracles also happen in the midst of difficulty. We were able to get the mirror - a part unavailable and on back order in several nearby states - replaced in Seward, Nebraska, right off the interstate of our route. Easy peasy. This made for a much easier second day's drive. A big shout out to Meyer Ford in Seward, Nebraska!
As I have said many times before, life presents us with blocks all the time. When faced with a block or a series of them, the next step you take determines how you choose to order it. There is no right or wrong answer. Are there blocks in your life now? Are you letting them ruin your day, or are you moving though them? Do you interpret blocks as signs for you to stop, or as opportunities to persevere? It's up to you.
© carol saunders 2021
