A BUMP in the Road

The road less traveled. The road to nowhere.  Take the high road. A fork in the road. One road leads to another. The road not taken. 

I tend to do a great deal of thinking while I am driving.  I will even turn off the radio for less distraction even though I can't understand the lyrics of the songs. My thoughts scatter like bugs on the windshield upon impact. I problem solve, reminisce, set goals, dream, cry, laugh, but never sing. I'm a horrible singer and it's even worse since I don't know the correct words to any song. The road becomes my own mental journal.  

As my truck was thumping along the other day, I began to realize, life is very similar to a road.  Sometimes, the road is straight and freshly paved and things move along smoothly.  Sometimes, there are a few curves thrown in there to test our response to change.  Other times, it seems to be riddled with  potholes, some big, some small and some that seem to swallow us up.  The road gets rough when dumped off of the pavement onto a dirt road kicking up dust and gravel into our face.  We fight our way through it knowing there is an end in sight. 

Freeways and highways allow us to speed along quickly.  We miss and overlook important landmarks because we are so preoccupied with the destination rather than the journey. If we are lucky, a few stop signs or stop lights force us to slow down and take in the life which is chugging alongside us.  But if we are so caught up in our devices, then more extreme measures are needed and our friendly maroon goon (Minnesota State Patrol)  will pull us over and force us to pay attention.

We come across bridges and tunnels but are able to just sail through on cruise control.  Sometimes we have lights to guide our route and others we are left to flail around in the dark.  The obstacles has been lifted by another just like friends and family help get us through the rough times.  We roll up and down hills with ease but the climb usually requires a bit more gas and effort to reach the peak.  We can't always be heading downhill because eventually you end up at the bottom.  We are forced to choose when we reach a fork in the road.  We may not know what lies ahead but we take a risk and choose. Sometimes it is a dead end but we learn to trust our instincts and make a better choice next time. Or we cheat and use GPS!

There are roads less traveled and sometimes this is a sacred little gem because it's a mini sanctuary.  We recover and recuperate.  The road to nowhere doesn't generally have a happy ending. We find ourselves drowning in a sea of uncertainty of how to get back to where we once were.  We begin searching for the high road. It's there, but the climb is often not without some exertion. 

We may tire easily, but we know there is so much more road to travel that we cannot put it in park.  We don't want to give up. We want to see more.  We want to achieve more.  We are curious.  So many miles to cover.  So we plow ahead, trudging through construction zones and barricades thrown our way because we know if we stop, someone else will map our road.