Yesterday had moments of calm and moments of stress. Nolan and I were up early to travel across country. We left Virginia around 8am and it was already in the 60’s and the sun was out. Within a few miles, as we drove toward the mountains, sunshine gave way to fog – heavy, dense fog. As we climbed and descended each grade, the fog just seemed to get worse causing us to rethink our route to the interstate. We ended up driving further north and circling back around to Interstate 64 in order to avoid some of the more “treacherous” areas that were affected by the fog. Once we crossed into West Virginia, most of the fog had lifted, turning into rain. It wasn’t a down pour, just a steady spring-like rain. Continuing the journey westward, we found ourselves entering Ohio…and the rain had turned into the pounding, torrential kind. Nolan checked the radar on his phone to keep track of where bad conditions might be ahead of us and we managed to miss most of them. As we left Ohio and drove into Indiana, we realized we had missed the cold front by only 30 minutes or so. But what the front left behind was a winter wonderland of gleaming ice-coated trees and a drastic difference in temperatures! The closer we got to Indianapolis, the rain turned to sleet, ice, and finally to snow. These conditions, ultimately, forced us off the interstate in order to stay safe.
As I drove today, I could have focused my attention on the side mirrors of my truck, constantly looking at what was behind us – what we had just survived. But, in doing that, I would have left us open to an accident by not paying attention to what was ahead.
Life is a lot like that. We face these obstacles, challenges, things that “slow down” our journey and make us rethink our plan. In the end, you can’t make any progress by looking in the rearview mirror because where you are going is much greater than what you are leaving behind. Sometimes it’s the simple things that remind us that challenges are a part of life and, if we’re looking behind us, then we’re not looking forward. Today, we’re off to Peoria!