It is truly amazing how the awareness you most need is being demonstrated to you over and over and over. This must be what is meant by the truth that we live in a failsafe universe.
I was driving my grandson Brad to the airport to pick up a rental car. We had Gabby II (the Garmin) programmed in with the address we got off the internet. As we approached, I was cautiously watching for the place to turn in, when he said to me, “It will save you a lot of stress if you delay being concerned about things. I learned that from pizza delivery work. You can always turn around.”
I felt a catch in my throat as a few tears formed in my eyes. How many times have I wasted my peace of mind living as though every thought, word, or deed was life or death?
Suddenly, my mind flashed back to another time I was driving to an airport with Brad in the car. I was in Tennessee, he was five, his mom was going into labor for his brother, and I was going to pick up his Grandpa. That was in the days before we had a GPS, so I had hand-written directions. My vehicle was off the side of the road, overhead light turned on, reading about where I needed to go.
“Gammie….You are doing it all wrong. You are wasting time. Use your eyes. It is right there.”
He was motioning out the windshield, showing me the airplanes landing and taking off. At a mere five years of age, he knew where the airport was because he was paying attention!
I shared that story with him as we proceeded to our current destination. We mused about how he knows he had that sense and now that he has graduated college with his Master’s Degree, he wants to walk across the country and/or move to a place he has never been. He says he wants to make his way without depending on his previous reputation. I am sure he is aware that where ever he goes, there he will be….
We found the street, followed the Enterprise signs, drove over those nasty tire-puncturing contraptions to make sure you only drive one way, and soon found ourselves in a parking garage along with dozens of returned rental cars. My van was alongside vehicles about three across and ten deep—all of them with no drivers, having been dropped off by those hurrying to catch a flight.
Brad got out and headed into the building to find the counter to pick up his car. More cars came in, now dozens behind me as well as in front of me. Remembering the conversation we had just shared, I fought the urge to panic.
Wearing an official-looking vest, a guy I presumed to be an Enterprise employee jumped into and drove away a car two lanes over, creating a narrow opening for me to squeeze out. Going the wrong-way along the arrows, I knew I was heading toward the tire torture contraption!
Just as I emerged back out into the sunlight, I saw what may or may not have also been an Enterprise employee. I waved and called out to him saying that I had gotten in there by mistake while dropping someone off to pick up a car, and I needed to get out. He said, “Hurry! Go this wrong way quickly, and get over there, and then follow the exit signs!”
Twisting and turning, I eventually came to an attendant who opened a gate and I was soon out on the road. I asked Siri to “call Brad mobile” and told him I was out and heading back to the house. We had planned to drive him to the airport, but at the last minute chose to rent a car so he could drive himself. As an aside, he was so excited to get a cute little red Fiat 500!
Even when you can’t literally turn around and go back exactly the same way you came, you can relax and enjoy a bit of patience and persistence and watch how things do have a way of working out….
