One week at the beginning of the summer. Jessie and I had a Friday off work together, and for several days we had been planning to take her sister's jeep to Cleveland for the afternoon. We were excited because the jeep had the top and doors off so we would be able to fully enjoy the summer day. The hopeful journeyers!
When Friday finally showed we found it to be much more windy than expected, but naively we pushed on with our plan. Cleveland is a 45 mile drive north on the highway, and shortly after leaving we realized that between the doors being off, wind rushing through, and chaotic traffic we were about to rip one another's heads off. On top of that we were completely lost. Both of us had that "I'll push you out the jeep while it's moving" look in our eyes. A delight less day in deed.
Now it has only been a month since that incident, and even so, already every time we quote the one-liners from that afternoon we laugh until sometimes our sides hurt. "Our highway catastrophe" has become another commonality embedded into our marriage. A quirky experience now linked to laughter. Interesting it is, the subtle blending of heated argument into a humorous tale.
Often there is companionship between outlook and time. When the days pass a perspective is allowed to unravel and stretch out like the cramped passenger of a jeep ride. Just as the hours always settle into the broader day so it seems to be with the settling of perspective. It is then that a point of view can stand upright and correct. The jeep ride was miserable that particular day, but for the rest of lives that event will be perceived as a funny story to us. Hopeful journeyers we once were, and now hopeful journeyers we are once again...
