Alternate Routes

I have a thing about alternate routes. That's what we call it when someone (generally Mike) takes a wrong turn and has to find another way to get where we are going. I always get uptight when we have to take an alternate route! Really uptight! Why???

Well, I think it started as a teenager just having gotten my driver's license and being set loose to drive on my own in Marin county. I only wanted to drive directly to my destination and I did not want to get lost! I remember the first time I passed my freeway turnoff, I pulled over to the side of the freeway and starting panicking! What was I going to do?? After calming down I realized (what most people would just automatically do) I could most likely get off at the next exit and just get back on the freeway going the other direction! It worked! This time.

As a mother of 5 children, I was always doing things right up until it was a little past time to leave to take someone somewhere. So, I always needed to know the quickest and/or the most direct route - no dillydallying driving around. And if I was going somewhere I didn't know well, a wrong turn meant being late! Some in the family may not know this, but I don't like being late(I know, but not enough to plan on leaving much earlier). So, it became a necessity in my life to not take alternate routes.

Last night, Mike, Brent and I took the trolley from EC downtown to SD to go to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I got turned around going into town and was so sure that a more direct walking route could be taken. Mike reassured me that he knew the downtown area (after all he's been working there over a decade) and took me against my will the wrong way! But he turned out to be right this time (almost had to buy a map to prove me wrong!).

You'd think I'd learn from Mike's vast experiences of taking alternate routes (generally happens if he's caught up in a conversation or thought and I'm not directing him which road to take) but I haven't. And what about Elder Wirthlin's last general conference talk on Come What May and Love It! Here's his quote:

"...learn to laugh.

I remember loading up our children in a station wagon and driving to Los Angeles. There were at least nine of us in the car, and we would invariably get lost. Instead of getting angry, we laughed. Every time we made a wrong turn, we laughed harder.

Getting lost was not an unusual occurrence for us. Once while heading south to Cedar City, Utah, we took a wrong turn and didn’t realize it until two hours later when we saw the “Welcome to Nevada” signs. We didn’t get angry. We laughed, and as a result, anger and resentment rarely resulted. Our laughter created cherished memories for us." Ensign, Nov 2008

So if you see me laughing (probably hysterically) down the road - you'll know I'm lost or someone else driving is LOST!