Miles and Miles Part 2

Something I have learned after miles and miles of marriage is that God often improves on what seems like failure to me.

After our door was unlocked and we were safely in our car, headed down the highway, we felt exhaustion slowly seeping into our bones. The miles seemed to creep by. But we were thankful that the roads were good and we were heading home once more. Throughout the afternoon, Google maps informed us of road closures due to snow storms, but all the roads we chose for our route still looked good. 

So onward we drove. North into Colorado, a scenic route we had never taken before. Occasionally we saw drifting snow beginning to form on the edge of the highway. Tumble weed rolled across the road countless times. Even elk and coyotes were on the move.

Things took on an ominous feel shortly after we entered a small town late in the afternoon and began looking for our new road. We only got about 500 yards down our new route when abruptly the road stopped. The snow bank covering the road was impenetrable. That was a definite no go. I had just whimpered a babyish plea to God and Bruce to stop for the night and thought surely God had answered my prayer.

Not so. Bruce was determined to achieve goals. However, the state patrol man had other guidance for us as we made an attempt to retrace the road we had just come off. He informed us the road we had just driven was now closed to any more traffic. When we asked him what our options were he pointed us two hours out of our way in the wrong direction.

I watched my husband give in quite sullenly and decided the next couple hours might be a good time for me to be quiet and pray or listen to music or something. Giving up on a goal is not easy for a go-getter like my husband so I felt grace and compassion for him and a whole lot of gratefulness to God for rescue off these nasty roads. Even knowing we still had another couple hours to drive before finding a place to eat and sleep for the night, I felt downright giddy with relief.

We finally pulled into a snowy, blowy town on the edge of Colorado and drove around looking for the restaurant we had settled on, using our phones. Again, Bruce was faced with disappointment having been counting on a nice steak house to celebrate our anniversary. This place sold hamburgers and deep fried pickles. I was very satisfied with my hamburger and fries. I did not try the deep fried pickles. The day felt like a deep fried pickle to Bruce by now and we were definitely not in the mood to try to eat one.

Honestly, I struggled a little bit through that meal. I was filled with gratitude to God for safety. While also, I felt horror at all the day had brought to us. I had given it my best shot of positivity and praise to God regardless...I wasn't going to let things like accidents and bad roads and getting locked out of our car get in our way of celebrating health and miles and miles of marriage together. We had just conquered the world with the building of a 40 acre fence. But alas, the dark and sullen mood of my husband was grating on my last nerve and I needed the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to activate right now.

As we left the restaurant and went out into the cold, brutal snow globe to go to the nicest hotel available in town, which wasn't very nice actually...it was dirty and worn out...but it was warmth and safety...We were given one more challenge.

We couldn't even leave the parking lot of the restaurant before our final test of the day arrived. An old clunker of a car was dead right behind us. The owners were trying to jump start it but it wasn't cooperating. By this time, my will to live had gone. Bruce however, saw this as a challenge and jumped to life. He had a tow rope. He would pull them to the shop around the corner. No big deal. This day had already gone wildly wrong. Why not help some stranger yet? Maybe a part of the day could become good at least. And he was right too. It felt good to help someone.

After hot showers and collapsing into bed, the drama of events came back in bits. It certainly wasn't the kind of romantic anniversary one plans to have. But it was solid and good and sound. It didn't feel like a failure to me in the least. Bruce was still feeling bad about the rerouting and the red neck restaurant and the seedy hotel room. But I pish-poshed him. The day was over. We passed the tests. And we still had the gift of each other and commitment. And hopefully miles and miles of more travel together through life's strange and wild twists and turns.