Wednesday, February 19, 2020

When Life Hands You an Unexpected Detour


My husband Bev and I love doing road trips. We pick a destination, plot our route, and hit the highway to see what we can see. Of course, we do like to have a fair idea of where we are at any time and which direction we are heading. That’s why we never go anywhere without a good map. I never realized how important good road signs are to the whole process until we travelled in Ireland a few years ago. Perhaps in a small country, the assumption is that everyone knows where they’re going so road signs aren’t necessary. Whatever the case, there were many places where we saw no signs at all. It’s hard to figure out where to go when you have no idea where you are. It rendered the maps all but useless and forced us to stop and ask for help any number of times – not such a bad thing as we met some great people that way. However, I discovered that I don’t much like not knowing where I’m going.

Here in Canada we rarely feel so lost, except perhaps when we run into an unexpected detour. At times like that, what we think will be a straightforward trip from point A to point B can end up taking us in a completely different direction. That might not matter so much if we are just meandering, but when we have a specific goal in mind, especially one involving a timeline, hitting a roadblock can be stressful. It’s like we are at it’s mercy and forced to head into uncharted territory right when we thought we had it all figured out and knew exactly what to expect. That’s when we have a choice to make. We can get all bent out of shape, or we can stop worrying about the destination and the plan and decide to enjoy the journey.

This year we were heading into the year 2020 with high hopes and a sense of optimism. We had some very definite plans in mind and were already marking things on our calendar in anticipation. We thought we knew exactly where the road ahead would be taking us. That’s when we hit one of life’s unexpected detours. At the end of January I was diagnosed with breast cancer and we now find that we are heading into uncharted territory. It’s a completely different direction than we were planning on, so we find ourselves with a choice to make. We can get all bent out of shape, or we can decide to embrace the journey and see what we can see along the way.