Friday, December 17, 2010

Freeways and Byways

Some "out-of-the-box" thoughts came to me yesterday as I was traveling to meet someone at a quilt store about 30 minutes from my house.  There might be some people who read this post and think, "Most of Annie's thoughts are "out-of-the-box".  I must admit my thoughts can take some strange turns at times. :P

While en route on the I-15 freeway, I received a call on my cell phone that about 5 or so exits ahead of me the traffic was almost at a dead stop.  A VERY bad vehicle accident had occurred. There's a way to get to the fabric shop by taking side roads.  UGH! But, it would take more time with all the signals and turns to make.  Would I rather be moving at a slower pace or sit on the freeway at a dead-stop for who knows how long? Rocket science not needed for the correct answer.

Looking at the bright side, I was early leaving my house.  More bright-side thoughts.....there are a couple other fabric stores in the path of the my destination fabric store!  So, I take the byways.

Some other thoughts came to mind:

1)  Good thing I didn't leave the house much earlier.  I might have been sitting in traffic with no choice to take a byway.  Or, even worse, be part of the accident.
2)  Taking the byway was slower than if I could've driven the freeway under normal speeds; but, I woulda missed learning of all the interesting retail stores that line the streets of Redwood Road from 123rd south thru to 7800 south.  Many of the stores I noticed were ones I wished Iwoulda had time to actually stop and shop in them.  There were many I hadn't known were even on this particular path.
3)  Sometimes, I'm just speeding thru life. I miss a lot of fun things on the side just to get to a particular destination or space in time.  It sounds cheezy and cliche.  But, it can be very good to slow down just a bit. Maybe I should take time (at least sometimes) to stop and smell the roses on my path.  Taking time to appreciate our journey to a destination can add quality to life in the present - and to life in the future.

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