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Sometimes we travel through life, both physically or figuratively, and we find ourselves experiencing an unexpected detour. At first, it can be an inconvenience. It can add additional mileage to our route, it can take additional time, and depending on the extent of the detour, it can possibly cost us additional money. But when we keep our attitude in check, we may find that these unexpected detours can become beautiful excursions.
01. Road Closures
Recently, I took a day trip to visit my daughter who lives about three hours from me. I love the drive. It’s beautiful and takes me through countryside I don’t often get to see. It isn’t a major interstate, and while there are exits with accommodations like food and gas, the road is not terribly littered with advertisements and billboards. It feels as if I’ve stepped back in time when travel was still a true getaway. I can listen peacefully to Ophelia Wilde or Polly Carter and let my mind absorb the accompanying sights, and rhythms of the music.
There is one particular part of this route, where a very large bridge spans a very deep river. I’m not sure how deep the river itself actually is, but the drop… well, it’s breathtakingly high. The thing about this route is that there are no easily accessible alternate routes. It is the shortest path from point A to point B, coming in at two hours and fifty minutes. The next closest route is three hours and thirty four minutes. So you can imagine my shock and anxiety as I crossed the bridge to see five large orange barrels and several “Road Closed” signs in the westbound lanes.
There I was, halfway through my route, met with an unexpected detour for my return trip home later that evening.
02. Type-A Personalities
To most people, these five orange barrels and road closure signs would be no more than a blip on their radar. In fact, I would argue, that many may not even have noticed them at all. Maybe that’s why approximately half a mile down the road, there were an additional five orange barrels and several more “Road Closed” signs positioned across the roadway. I suppose when the Department of Transportation closes a bridge over a very deep river, they want to be sure their message is clear.
But to a type-A personality….well, those orange barrels and road closure signs did not go unnoticed. In fact, they were detected on the spot, accompanied by a racing pulse, and possibly a minor cold sweat. Someone had the audacity to close my road: The road I planned to take to travel safely home after dark. The road I know like the back of my hand. My route was being met with a detour. And if there is one thing type-A personalities don’t like…. it’s an unexpected change in plans.
03. Niggling Thoughts
We had a beautiful day, my daughter and me. The weather was warm, but not too warm. There were a few stray clouds, but the predicted thunderstorms forecast for the area stayed at bay. We sipped coffee and walked through antique shops. We did everyday things like run to the grocery store and reorganize her pantry. I got to play with her precious little dog and enjoyed every single minute of my day.
But when she wasn’t looking, I would secretly pull out my phone to check and re-check my return route back home. Had the road opened? Were they just repaving or resurfacing? Maybe they finished their work and I could go back home on my intended route. If I was lucky I wouldn’t have to change my plans at all! These niggling thoughts continually stayed in the back of my mind the entire day. I can’t say they overshadowed our time together, but I was acutely and constantly aware of them.
When the time came for me to head back home, I checked my route one final time. And much to my hesitant heart’s disappointment, the road, my road, hadn’t reopened at all. I was going to have to detour.
04. Unexpected Excursions
At the the end of a beautiful day, I maneuvered my way through my daughter’s little hometown, watching the sat-nav screen at construction sites, making sure I didn’t miss a tiny unmarked state road, or end up somewhere I didn’t belong. Traffic was heavier than it would have been on my road. The anxiety of the unknown path that awaited me caused my palms to sweat. In hindsight, I realize it was a little absurd.
I carefully followed the GPS directions and after traveling a few unfamiliar miles, that was when I took full realization of my surroundings. I was on a two-lane road, going through a beautiful little historic town of Sardis, Kentucky. Dotted here and there were log cabins undergoing restoration, and historic stores now serving as lunch counters and ice cream shops and the cutest little coffee shops. There was a National Cemetery where rows and rows of white marked and unmarked headstones commemorated sacred resting places. There were large Georgian style historic homes to tour, battlefields to walk, museums to visit, and roadside markers to read.
As the road wound to the left and to the right, I saw fields dotted with freshly rolled hay bales. I love a good bale of hay. There is something inexplicably beautiful about it to me. Then, another dip and turn in the road, and as I came over the next rise, my view changed drastically. Suddenly, I could see for miles.
There were trees and rolling hills, more fields, and more hay bales. The clouds were rolling in, embodying that almost-September blue gray, and the sunshine…oh the sunshine…it was peering from behind the clouds in brilliant streaks of golden white light. The sight was absolutely glorious.
05. Overwhelming Gratitude
And for a moment, my world seemed to stand still. While I wanted to soak it all in, I didn’t pull off to take in the sights; I was on an unknown two-lane back country road, just before dusk. But the view from this new road, my new road, was one of the most beautifully breathtaking sights I’ve ever seen.
I felt a swell of gratitude welling up within my chest. I could feel the tears forming behind my eyes and for a few moments I was so thankful for this unexpected detour in my life. You remember: The one I was so anxious about, the one that caused my pulse to race and my palms to sweat. No, this detour turned out to be a beautiful unexpected end to a beautiful joyful day.
And while all of this is very metaphorical, it really made me consider the other unexpected detours that turn into beautiful excursions. We all have them: An unexpected job change, a move, a challenge with our children, or even just a change in life as we age. But when we take in the sights and embrace the sounds we otherwise would have missed or ignored, when we recognize what is happening to us, and around us, and we find stolen moments to participate in, I believe we find astounding beauty that we can all be grateful for.
xo, Billie
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