improvising on the road

My husband and I left our summer home last Thursday, to drive back to California.  We’ve done this drive back and forth across the country in some form or fashion every summer since the pandemic.  I’ve traveled with my daughter and her two older boys, my husband and one grandson or my husband alone.  At first it seemed like a necessity.  Traveling by plane right after Covid felt uncomfortable.  I just wasn’t ready.  

But soon I found that I rather like it.  I do the driving and my husband works on his computer, or listens to the radio or naps.  The days in the car have proved a welcome buffer between two different communities.  By the time we arrive at our final destination, I have mentally left my other life behind and am ready to fully embrace where I am.

I plan the routes and all the hotel stops.  Some are hits and some are misses.  Sometimes one we thought was a hit last year becomes a miss this year.  Years ago, I found a hotel in the old town of Wichita, Kansas that was built in a tool factor.  I think I had stayed here with my daughter when she was in high school or college, and another time with my husband.  This year I decided that we would swing through Wichita again to see a good friend from Epworth.  So back we went to the Hotel at Old Town. 

The room is very well appointed with beautiful high ceilings and tall windows to let in lots of light.  It even has a full kitchen.  I have no idea why.  Who would come to a to hotel like this and cook a full meal?  Should you want to this hotel would allow for it. 

One of the things that makes an impact in a hotel room for two people is bedside tables.  This room only had one.  On the other side of the bed there was no table, no lamp, no outlets.  I didn’t need the outlet, so my husband took the side of the bed with the table, and I improvised.  I removed the drawer from his bedside table and set up a place for my water bottle, my glasses, phone, a book and the other things that I’m likely to need during the night.  It wasn’t ideal, but I liked the room well enough to make it work.

So much of life is about improvisation.  Things are never exactly the way we would want them.  Even in our happiest seasons, we know that life will not remain perfect.  But what do we do with the imperfections when they appear?  Do we rant and rail against them?  Do we grumble and sulk?  Or do we look around for a way to make the situation better with what we have at hand.  Life is not about what we don’t have, but about what we can do with what is given us.

Love, Liz