jakorte's blog

When you’ve been on the same road for so long, you sort of expect that you know what to expect. You get used to feeling the dips and turns in the road. You know where to anticipate ice and blowing snow. You notice when someone plants a tree or adds a fence.

After 9 years of driving the same road, mostly 5 days a week, I expected to know where I was going. So, Wednesday morning’s fog was annoying, but I felt competent . Until, I had to pass up a usual turn. That’s when I ran into trouble. I wasn’t going too fast, it was just that I had a tailgater. Rather than be rear-ended by the short-sighted follower, I passed the turn and started looking for some place to turn around.

The fog got thicker. I wasn’t at all familiar the roads or the driveways past that turn. I couldn’t see them until I was right up on them. Again, because of the tailgater, I kept having to pass up opportunities. I decided to out smart the problem. I flipped on my blinker, and slowed to 5 mph. When I saw an opportunity to pull into a well-marked drive I took it. Yeah, it was about 3 minutes after I engaged the signal. Probably really annoyed the bumper hugger behind me, but at least we weren’t in danger.

Heading back was just as scary. Still not sure where I was, I woke up my copilot to ask for help. We both saw the four letter street sign at the same time. Still didn’t feel quite right, but I had already stopped expecting things to look the same in the cloud soup. We were back on track; at least I thought we were.

At a surprising stop sign, we found ourselves perpendicular to Moon Road. Ok, the good news was, we were back at Moon. The bad news was that by this time, I was completely disoriented. Left or Right? Left or Right? Finally, I took a van poll. Left.

Left turned out to be the right choice. Would I have sat there all day if I hadn’t asked for help? If I were alone, perhaps, I’d have sat a bit longer. But others were with me. Eventually, someone would have demanded that I pick a direction.

Pick a direction; pick a direction. Ok, ok. I get it. I’m supposed to pick a direction. I’m just not ready, yet. Suppose the one I choose is worse than where I’ve been standing still? Things can get worse, and it seems they have been, anyway. So, I know standing isn’t the right answer, either. It’d be ok with me if my life’s fog just rolled away leaving me a clear familiar path. But, I know that’s not likely, either.

"Look here, you people who say, 'Today or tomorrow we are going to such and such a town, stay there a year, and open up a profitable business.' How do you know what is going to happen tomorrow? For the length of your lives is as uncertain as the morning fog—now you see it; soon it is gone. What you ought to say is, 'If the Lord wants us to, we shall live and do this or that.' James 4:13-16, TLB

In this issue: Fog, Vision Loss, Achieving Goals, Books to Read
Now published: Lugging It, Slidell, LA, October 2008 & Valentine's Day, Humor, That's Random.