Must be a benefit to getting older and appreciating more "little" things.
Instead of battling the flights as a standby this holiday weekend, and since we were travelling on two of the busiest travel days of the year - the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and Black Sunday after...we drove to our Thanksgiving plans this year.
While it also gave us the opportunity to stop and pick up an Apple Annie's Apple Pie on our way, it also made for a relaxing travel experience. I did not have to, nor did I, spend our time checking flights, wondering if we would make it, coming up with more back up plans in case anything unexpected happened..It was so nice not to worry, and just spend the time enjoying our time with family..living in the "today".
Our drive to El Paso was uneventful, and we made good time.
Two years ago, we made the same drive, just a few months after my Dad had died.
Although I wanted to get away from home, and be with family, it was one of the toughest drives I have ever done. I expected to be emotional, but I cried almost the entire 6.5-7 hr drive. I was caught off guard by how every little thing along the way was a trigger for me - the places we stopped at for coffee or a snack every few hours, seeing the trains or the views of the mountains.
This time, however, it is now 2 years later. It is not the first time we have made this drive since then, but it is the first Thanksgiving since that first year. Time has passed. I was able to enjoy the and cherish the drive, and what the drive allowed me to see. With my Mom asleep, I had some time to myself. I was able to process this weekend, and life in general. I thought. I got in my head, which is sometimes dangerous for me. LOL.
A few years ago, when we drove the Road to Hana in Maui,during my research, I kept seeing "it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey."
This weekend, and yesterday in particular, was very similar. I mentally broke up the drive into smaller, more manageable pieces. El Paso to Las Cruces, 1 hour. Las Cruces to Deming, 1 hr. Deming to Lordsburg, 1.5 Hours, and so on. By breaking it up and treating the pieces separately, it didn’t seem as long. Think of the small pieces that make up the pie, not the whole pie. It add me wonder even though I hear and read this often, I don’t implement it more. My anxiety says "everything must be dealt with and fixed right now" before anything else goes wrong.
Breaking up the pieces seems to be the way to do it. I felt like I accomplished more, even though it’s still the same amount of miles. It’s akin to doing something not on your list, but then adding it to your list do you can cross it off, something I am guilty of as well.
Anyhow, back to the drive.
One of the ways I taunted my Father about his driving was to make fun of his "fakakta" (Yiddish for crazy) driving shortcuts. He was infamous for finding shortcuts that didn’t exist to highways that didn’t intersect (that’s another post LOL)
Driving back home from visiting family, the highway was shut down about an hour ahead of where we were. Since Indiana Jones (Dad) wasn’t in the car with us to whip out his maps from AAA, I used Waze in its Cookie Monster voice, to direct me through my own fakakta route. I am certain he was smirking at me and giving me an "I told you so" loud and clear from Heaven.
I was calm and relaxed even though I was driving on a route I had never been, through towns and roads I have never seen in the 19 years I've been in Arizona. There was not much traffic which makes it easier. Sometimes, you just have to go off the plan and let things roll how they do. Sometimes, I even surprise myself. Without Indiana Jones and his maps, I had Cookie Monster and his Waze to keep me occupied and giggling at his commentary. Like "Accident ahead. C is for Caution! and Cookies!"
When we got home, the power had gone out during our time away and I needed to reboot our cable modem. When I flipped it over to reach the power plug, a dime dropped from somewhere. Hi Dad ❤️
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