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….
