The Road Less Travelled

I often take the road less travelled...and it’s not always by choice. I often stumble upon it or take a wrong turn and then realize I have no idea where I am. I have had the best and worst experiences when this happens because I find myself in the most unexpected places.

Like last Saturday, I was driving to see Tasha at her Mom’s place. I had been there before, but I had never driven. This whole scenario is solely my fault because I unintentionally condition myself to be navigationally challenged. When I am not driving my mind wanders about all the things I want to do in life. Depending on the length of the drive, I could have my whole house renovated by the time we stop. I often have no recollection of street names or landmarks that brought me there, and I really should try to focus more but I enjoy the time to just be in my head because there’s nowhere else for me to be for that moment. It’s relaxes me and excites me about the fun things to come.

Thankfully, I am resourceful, so I have that going for me. It had been awhile since I had driven to Ottawa on my own so I did the smart thing, I asked for the address and I mapquested it. Mapquest has always been a reliable tool for me but when the directions first came up that Richmond was in Toronto I was knew I was in trouble. So I tried it again this time being more specific and it told me it was a 10 minute drive. Having been there previously that made sense to me so I hopped in the car. I followed the directions, took the appropriate exit and found myself nowhere near where I was supposed to be so I called Tasha and asked for help not surprised at all that I had again managed to get myself lost.

She told me to take the Fallowfield exit. “No problem !“ I thought to myself. I was close to Moodie so I knew I could catch the 417 from there. A little off the beaten path but I used my resources and was relieved to be back on track! WRONG! I would like to pretend that I knew it wasn’t right early on and did a quick turn around, but it wasn’t until I saw the Carp exit that I knew that something was wrong. I called Tash again, and thank god she picked up because I had to pee like a racehorse and I couldn’t afford any more detours.

I re-capped my adventure for her and immediately she gave me the devastating news- Fallowfield can only be found on the 416! By this point, I was frustrated with myself that I had again gotten lost and held up all our grand plans for the day. I made a personal note that this was something that I would definitely have to work on in the future.

I am grateful it was a beautiful, sunny day because my bladder could not have handled the gentle trickling of falling rain. A 10 minute drive turned into an hour drive but I got there! I got to enjoy a little extra sunshine and have a little more time to myself so I chalked it up to experience and tried to make the best of it. I opened up my sunroof, blasted some fun music and within no time at all I was parked in her Mom’s driveway.

We often too much emphasis on finding the quickest route when sometimes it the detours that teach us the most and become the most memorable!

It’s important to have a plan, but I also think a big part of life is being okay with feeling lost from time to time, taking a detour and having the confidence to know that even if you don’t get where you want to go as quick as you would like, you’ll still get there and you may actually feel a little wiser!

Charly