Things you can control

I flew up to Utah Monday morning. It’s such an easy trip. Then I rented a car, packed it with all of my daughter’s belongings, and we started the long drive home to Texas. This leg of the journey is not easy. And although we only used actual toilets for relief on the way home (iykyk😜), it was still an adventure.

My life is full of them, and I am realizing that many of my adventures are created by ME.

I gotta work on that.

This is the second time I have taken a kid to college in Utah using the fly-one-way-and-drive-the-other method. It is far superior to the drive-both-ways-and-seriously-contemplate-my-life-choices method I have used in the past. Even so, the drive is at least 19 hours long. It’s brutal.

We drove as far as we possibly could on Monday night. Even with the help of my driving partner, Dr. Pepper, my eyes ached and I had to stop. We found a hotel that looked decent and Julie and I crashed with exhaustion. Tuesday morning, facing another day of driving the final 12 hours, we quickly got ready and hit the road.

We drove and ate, drove and got gas, drove and took potty breaks, and drove some more. Finally, we made it to Texas! Right after we had passed Amarillo, the cars stopped. Not slowed, but stopped. No one was moving. People were getting out of their cars, walking up and down the road to understand what was going on. All I could see in either direction was a huge line of cars and trucks. UGH. With about 5 hours left in our journey, this was a tough blow. We didn’t move for about 45 minutes.

And then—MOVEMENT! We rolled forward, slowly at first, and then picking up to normal speeds. We saw the overturned semi truck in the right lane as we drove by. I wanted to feel more empathy, but I just wanted to get HOME. My foot pushed the gas pedal to the floor, and we were gone.

As we neared home, Brian and I planned our meeting point at the airport. We settled on a specific location and time. We would tranfer all of Julie’s things to our car, turn in the rental car, and finally drive home. At this point, my anticipation of being done overtook all rational thought and I met Brian at the DFW airport lot with a nearly empty gas tank.

Whoops.

No big deal. We went a few minutes down the road, and I got gas. Although I was certain of the drop off location, I opened my email and double checked.

Um…

I’m an idiot.

Well, sometimes I am an idiot, and the shoe seemed to fit here. The rental car drop off was at the OTHER airport, 25 minutes away. My drop off time was 10 pm, and it was already 10:10 pm.

Frustrated, Brian and Julie got into our car, and I got into the rental car, and we all drove to the other airport in Dallas. Luckily, the rental drop off was still open and we could return the car. Seriously, it was a miracle. We pulled into our driveway about 11:15 pm.

This trip helped me realize that there are things that we can control, and things we cannot. When I booked the trip, I swear the rental drop off place said DFW airport. But I never checked again. 😳 I could have looked on the paperwork that was in the car. It was clearly printed on that. I could have double checked my email, which also had the actual address listed. This was one of those things I could control. I didn’t do any of those things, and it was a bad move. I added even more time to a really long drive! Sigh. It was so dumb.

On the other hand, there were things I couldn’t control that also happened. The truck that tipped over caused a significant delay for us. It wasn’t caused by anything I did, though. And I couldn’t change anything while we waited. Sometimes you just have to wait.

One of the most important things you can control is your reaction. I was initially frustrated at the stopped traffic, but then took advantage of the break to walk and stretch a bit. I knew Brian was mad when I had him meet me at the wrong airport—I was mad, too! But when I finally got into the car to drive home with him, he laughed. Sure, his laugh was laced with annoyance, but he laughed all the same.

I am such an idiot work in progress. ☺️

Maybe you can learn a little something from my latest adventure—focus on the things you can control, and try to roll with the things you cannot.

And don’t be stingy with your sense of humor.

Laughing truly helps.