Lost and Found

Lots of things have been getting lost around here lately. We lost Internet access for a couple of days...I had forgotten how frustrating rural Arkansas can be sometimes! (That explains why I haven't been very "present" in cyberspace this week.) I lost my breath during a severe allergy attack. I have lost my patience with circumstances this week and feel as though I have lost am losing my sanity. The frightening thing is that the inspiration for this post happened before any of this week's events hit. Here's a story from last week's whirlwind of a road trip.


On Friday afternoon, I was whipping through eastern Oklahoma on my way back to Arkansas. I had stopped for lunch a few hours before and then fought traffic through OKC during rush hour. From all of my travels, I avoid stopping in metropolitan areas for "pit stops" and seek out rest areas and travel stops along the interstate instead. On this particular patch of I-40, I was facing the demands of my bladder and needed to make an exit quickly. I noticed signs for a series of fast food restaurants, so I decided this would be a good place to stop.


How wrong was I?!? I guess I misread the signs and managed to exit onto a toll road instead. If you've not experienced Oklahoma toll roads, let's just say they are unforgiving. Once I entered the toll road, there was no opportunity to get off until after the first toll booth -- some 45 miles south of the interstate. By this point, I'm sweating bullets because the rental car doesn't have a navigation system and my bladder is about to explode! I exit and plan to re-enter the toll road and head back to I-40. Foiled again! The entrance ramp to the toll road is under construction and a "back road" detour is the only available option. This is definitely not what I had in mind.


Nearly an hour later I have finally wound my way through the twists and turns of Oklahoma Highway 9 only to get lost in a small town. (Why didn't I use my phone at this point for directions? My phone had no reception in this area and couldn't access the GPS!) However, in this little town I DO manage to find a restroom. Now that my mind isn't swimming any more, I'm able to think a little more clearly and make some choices -- lucky guesses, maybe -- and finally arrive back at I-40. Only problem....I've somehow managed to enter the interstate a few miles BEFORE arriving at the toll road exit I had originally taken. (I truly have no idea how I managed to do this. I suppose it is a special kind of talent that I have.)


Doesn't that sound just like our lives sometimes? We are on a path that we are very familiar with and we're confident that we know where we are headed. Then an unexpected detour pops up and we find ourselves in unknown territory. We start to panic and find that what had been certain and dependable is no longer available to us in the moment. Rather than stressing out and assuming that the worst is going to happen, how much better would the trip be if we paused long enough to look at the situation to see the opportunities around us in the detour. When I finally paused on my road trip and stopped freaking out, I discovered a gorgeous part of Oklahoma that I had never seen before. My unexpected detour -- my moments of being lost -- turned out to be a favorite part of my trip because I found something new. I hope that in the days ahead, as I begin to feel "lost" in my life that I'll take the time to see what I might "find" in the unexpected.