Rerouted

We always travel with our trusty GPS (or Waze or Google Maps), all affectionately named Nigel.  Nigel is our road-guide; He is awesome but often crazy.  Sometimes he takes us down back allies and dirt roads in an effort to save us 10 minutes or $4 in tolls or possibly because he wants a good laugh.  Sometimes it is frustrating, but most of the time, we simply respond, “Dang it fam!  We just got Nigeled!”  On the other end, we often miss turns, an exit is closed, something happens, and Nigel calmly and patiently reroutes us to where we are supposed to be going.  Nigel doesn’t yell or chastise or rebuke, he just calmly reroutes.  It may add some time or miles or tolls, but eventually he gets us there… or sometimes he doesn’t. Our adventures are often rerouted, and so is our life.  Quite often in little ways, but also in major ways, where we have no choice but to change course entirely — a new route.  A new destination.  A new plan.

We wanted to get in 4 more states but we only had a week. We did this crazy road trip from Chicago to Memphis to NOLA to Gulf Shores to Nashville and then home. In the middle of winter. I’m not even sure I could blog with tips later, because our weather was legit terrible. Memphis was chilly and drizzling, it dumped rain the entire time we were in NOLA, so much so that we decided to abandon the idea of NYE in NOLA and instead our delightful VRBO said that no one was renting our place and we could take it a night early. We watched the storms roll through over the Gulf, and then a tornado drastic enough to shut down the entire area, and then the power and internet went out– all the while we played cards with candles and ate copious amounts of snack food. It wasn’t the NYE we planned, but it was the NYE we got.

For whatever reason, we all handle our vaca changes a whole lot better than we handle our life ones.  They seem little and easy and just a different adventure.  Things we couldn’t have planned but are fine no matter what.  Honestly, I handle my own personal life ones pretty well too… but my framily, that is another story.  My heart breaks when my kids, (or sister or mother) are in a reroute.  I want them to have this smooth perfect ride that can never happen.