Embrace the Detours

I'm a planner. I'm a list maker. I like to plan for all contingencies and strive to be prepared for anything. If I could devise a list or formula to get through life, I'd be one happy girl. But, as I've learned these last two years, that's not life.

Last week we had the opportunity to accompany my husband on a work trip one state over. On our drive home, we noticed a sign for a Ghost Town, and decided to check it out. It wasn't the plan; we had to be home at a specific time, and I had mapped out where we'd stop for lunch, gas, potty breaks, etc. (If it's not potty break time and someone has to use the bathroom, it messes up my whole travel mojo.)

Anyway, we pulled into this quaint little Ghost Town, expecting to stay for 20 minutes, and ended up staying the entire afternoon. We went panning for gold, walked through the now-defunct silver mine, and even toured a house that was built sideways! The detour, that kind of messed up our travel schedule, ended up being one of the highlights of the entire trip!

Having a special needs child has taught me that there is sometimes more beauty in the detours than in the planned journey. The people we've met through Junior's deafness, the connections we've made, the attitude adjustment that we've been blessed to go through, are things that never would have happened without the "detour" of Junior's special needs. We never planned to have a child with a disability, but this new path has been filled with love and peace abounding. Reminding us that sometimes life is in the detours.

Have you ever experienced a detour in life that ended up being more meaningful than you could have ever planned?

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