The Little Things Mothers Remember

Theme:  We’re Not Lost, It’s A Spontaneous Adventure

Family outings, whether planned or spontaneous, often included possibilities of a wrong turn or two or three…

This was only a problem if we had a specific destination or reservation.

Even then, it wasn’t really a problem because I usually kept a Thomas Guide in the car. It also helped not being afraid to ask someone “where am I?”, “do you know the way to…?” or confess, “I loaned our Thomas Guide to someone. I don’t know where we are. I don’t know how long it may take to find a store or gas station to get a map or directions…”

Thank God, my father taught me a problem is something you can’t do anything about and if you can’t do anything about it, it’s not a problem! 

I remember being a little girl sitting in the passenger seat asking my Mama,

"Are we lost?"

"Nope."

"Where are we?"

"I don't know yet."

"You said we're not lost..."

Before I could finish my next question, Mama gave me "The Look."

🤨🤐

Conversation over.

Later that evening...

Daddy asked,

"What did you and your Mama do today?"

"Mama and I got lost, but she said we didn't."

"Did you get lost?"

"Mama said we didn't."

"Did you?"

"Mama said we didn't. We went to a new place. We had fun."

Daddy laughed and simply said,

"Mary..."

What do you do when you make a wrong turn or encounter an unexpected detour that throws you off course?

How do you respond when life doesn't go according to plan?

Do you get frustrated?

Do you assume your day or night is ruined?

Or, do you see the start of a spontaneous adventure?

For my family, we saw and see the latter.

Perception of any situation or circumstance is the difference between

Man, our plans are ruined…

We’ve never gone this way before…

Hey, I didn’t know this was over here!

Oh! I always wanted to go there! Can we?

This route was better than normal, we should remember this one.

Because we choose to see the adventure and appreciate the company we’re in, getting lost has never been a big deal.

Instead, my sons learned short cuts, back streets, alternate routes to destinations, and most importantly, after a wrong turn or two or three…

Lost is not finding your way back home!

We were never lost… We have had many spontaneous adventures.

From my heart to yours,

Dianne Lawson 💞