Point A to Point B and "the next"

There is a road that stretches from Point A to Point B and I am on it. (I'll get back to that later.)

Last Friday, I knew where my Point A began (my house) and where it would take me: Point B (Columbus, Ohio). The mission: bringing Amy home after being in Thailand for 6 months.

(Insert large uncontrolled smile, random dancing, confetti, and joyful tears.)

Starting any journey involves preparation. For my family, somehow this inevitably involves food. Grapes, pretzels,Whale crackers, oyster crackers, peach rings, minty gum, apple juice and bottled water were strategically placed in a cooler bag and we were off. This organization lasted about 5.4 minutes into the trip.

Traveling also means potential boredom for a certain 12 year old lad; this too involves preparation. A sketch book and pen, a fully charged cell phone with a farming app, a comfy pillow and a portion of my body to lean against and he is set. Ryan comes by this tendency for boredom honestly. My bag has pens, a journal, a book and my cell phone. I also do my best to avoid that awful feeling of carsickness and I made sure I had ginger candy, motion bands, and a non-drowsy form of anti-motion sickness pills on board.

My parents came along for the ride. Actually they were the ride. Or I should say that their van (aka The White Whale) was the ride. They came prepared for the journey with peanuts, a CD variety (think "Chuckwagon Gang") and a GPS. After plugging 2120 E. 5th Avenue in, we where on our way.













       As our journey began that day, it was also the ending of a journey. Amy's REACH experience in Thailand would be "officially" complete at 5:00 PM, and with a certificate in hand she would say her final goodbyes, her luggage would be loaded into the Whale and we would head East once again.





All this thought about preparation and journey makes me wonder about...The Journey of Life....
(insert dramatic, sweeping, emotion-gripping music). I know, cliche. But, my point is this: doesn't one life experience just lead into the next, and the next, and so on? Even for Amy, were the final goodbyes really final? Sure, it will be different the next time she meets up with them, but it is just part of "the next". And her time with REACH is just leading into the next step in her life. Each experiences adds a layer and texture that make the next part of the journey richer and deeper.

Maybe it is like a book, where one chapter leads to the next. Even death, which rather loudly proclaims, "THE END" is setting us up for the sequel.  And while that all sounds hopeful and promising, I know there is hard stuff along the way. Really hard, ugly, this-isn't-how-I-thought-my-life-would-be kind of stuff. So, what's the point?

Point A to Point B. I'm on that road. I don't always like it and I really want to stop, take a detour, or go back to where I started and try again. But here I am and I just keep putting one foot in front of the other and I am reminded that when it gets really difficult and I keep falling down, that maybe it is because I didn't prepare.

I need nourishment (both literal and spiritual). I need encouragement and sometimes a push. And I need to remember to stop, pause and rest along the way. This kind of journey doesn't happen in a day. I want to enjoy the sights along the way. A day at a time.

And today? I'm going to be thankful for those that gave their lives to protect our country and our freedoms. I'm going to be bask in the blessing of having my Amy home again for a time. I'm going to relish the days Heather and Ryan are still at home and look forward to long weekends when Adrienne comes home to hang out with us. I'm going to keep loving Sunday afternoons when Aaron and Lisa-Anna are here for lunch. I'm going to keep going, one step at a time.

Love,
Dianne


 P.S: Boredom sets in at about 15 minutes into the trip:

P.S. 2 Any guesses as to what this is?

Wanted: CPR

Prepare
    :to make (someone or something) ready for some activity, purpose, use, etc.
    :to make yourself ready for something that you will be doing, something that       you expect to happen, etc
    :to make or create (something) so that it is ready for use 

The week of Christmas, my Mac laptop decided it was taking a break. Not a self-imposed hiatus from Facebook or a pause in my life from all things technical or digital, but a complete and total vacation from everything. I keep telling myself it is just a vacation and the Mac will be back, but after its first checkup with the Geek Squad, I am feeling like this is going to turn into so much more than a mere checkout.

There was no sign of life at all they said. They are shipping it to a specialized Mac service center in KY for further diagnostics. I am afraid it needs urgent CPR.

That is Computer Power Restoration in case you were wondering. CPR.

Not that I can't function without the Mac because as you can see, I am still on-line. I am using the family laptop with a Windows operation system and while I prefer my laptop, this is okay. I just had to get used to the mouse, the way the screen moved, the crazy pop-up ads, etc. Kinda like driving a manual transmission for years and switching to an automatic for a little then, then going back to a manual. Pushing the brake thinking it is the clutch. Trying to shift down and then realizing you just went from drive to neutral. Annoying yes, but doable.

My biggest stress in all this is that I was not faithful in backing up my information. My last official big backup? March 2014. When your financial records are on there, well, that's bad. I'll be the first to say that I am not the most organized person. I simply was not prepared.

And there you have it.

On a local radio station, they have been talking since the first of the year about having "a word" that is your word for the year, instead of a New Year's Resolution. I have decided that my word is Prepare. Here's an example: If I had been prepared, I would have had "my word" by or on January 1st. No, it is January 10th and I finally have chosen my word.

If I had only backed up my laptop, I'd have been prepared for it's demise.
If I had only prepared something to eat, I wouldn't have been eating Cheezits in my car yesterday for breakfast.
If I had been keeping up all year with paperwork, I would be better prepared for tax season and FAFSA time.
If I had prepared for Winter Camp, I would've seen before the day camp started that I had not received the email parent packet and could have sent for it and had it ready before I was at camp.
If I had only prepared for my kid's college years, I wouldn't be stressing about the finances now.

In my defense, I thought I still had lots of time before the college years. But a crazy thing happened when I wasn't looking. They grew up. Sigh.

I am finding that I am more unorganized, scatterbrained and crazy because I have not prepared. The  plan that is in my head is in too many pieces. It is making me grouchy, angry at myself, and generally just not a nice person to be around right now. Something has got to change around here.

It's funny, but with my job, I am generally prepared. I get everything ready the night before. My clothes are laid out, my lunch is packed, and I have something for breakfast waiting to be pulled out of the fridge in the morning. I have a bag with anything I may need during a 16 hour shift packed and ready. Apparently a really good motivator for me is sleep. I don't want to get up any earlier than I have to!

I could get into retirement, estate planning and having a will too. It's not that I think this is unimportant; it just hasn't been gotten around to yet. PREPARE. It is important. I don't want to always be focused on the "what if's", and the future, but I could definitely do better, and it would make living in the present so much nicer because I would be getting rid of an element of worry that hangs over my head like a black cloud and a boulder on my shoulders.

As much as I want to be a spontaneous, fun, live vicariously kind of gal, there is a time and a place for that and there is a time to be prepared. Scrambling at the last minute for papers that I knew I had just seen and now can't find and I need for an important meeting...no fun. Saying to my kids, "Hey, let's go see The Hobbit tonight!", that's fun.

I may need CPR. That is Comprehensive Preparedness and Readiness. Or, in layman's terms
"Ready, Set, Go!"

Love,
Dianne