Over the last few days, i've been on a long drive around Lake Erie. Long drives are a great time to think, reflect and reminisce about life, albeit this drive ended up being much too rushed for this. I had planned to make several stops to take time to write, but my travel schedule was too tight for this.
Origionally i planned to leave on Tuesday, but i still had some family issues to deal with. With my mom ill and a number of other unresoved issues, i postponed my departure to Wednesday morning. I woke up before 6am as i have each morning at my sister's place, their dog being my faithful alarm clock, whether i want it or not (over the past 4 weeks i haven't been able to get more than 4-5 hours of sleep per night, my sister's night owl family rarely getting to sleep before 1am).
"At least i'll have an early start and get out of town before rush hour!" the early bird thought... Weary, but ready to go, I head out to my car at 6am only to find both possible escape routes from the driveway blocked! My nephew who usually parks in the garage parked came home late and parked beside me on the driveway and with their other car firmly planted behind me i was stuck. Aaargh!
For a moment i thought about driving across the grass, but that would have probably upset the neighbours who own half of the lawn that i would have certainly left ruts in. I marched back into the house, trying to find a spare set of keys to no avail. I debated if i should wake up someone, but i figured there's no point as by the time someone would get up and move the car i would start hitting rush hour traffic anyways.
So i waited until 10 am until my sister had headed off to work. The drive through Toronto traffic was still heavy, found myself on the highway doing less than 30 km/h. Then the rain came... I'm talking monsoon rain! I couldn't remember seeing anything like it, 5-10 minutes driving through a wall of water, couldn't even see 3 meters in front of me! It cleared up for about 20 minutes until i hit the next wall of water. Strange weather...
The border crossing at Buffalo was easy enough. My first stop was visiting old friends in upper New York state. They live in an area with lots of rolling hills i'd call more like small montains. I never knew this part of New York state was so beautiful. Since I had agreed to meet them at 4pm, i didn't have time to stop to take some quiet time in nature and write as i had initially hoped. Didn't feel good being on such a tight schedule...
The visit itself was refreshing, as it usually is with old friends. I really enjoy spending time with people, at least those who are honest and open, and not too focused on the superficial. Life is so much more than what we own, eat or drink.
I was looking forward to my first good night's sleep in weeks. A quiet small town, no barking dog to wake me up at 5 am,.. aaah, so nice. But at 2:15am I was rudely awakened by an air raid siren! Where was i? Suddenly in the midst of an arieal attack, or was something else going on? The siren continued to blair for at least 10 minutes, though it seemed longer. I died down for a minute before it started blairing for another 10 minutes. I thought perhaps there was terrorist attack, or maybe a chemical spill from the adjacent railroad. I sat up waiting for police to come and advise us to close or windows and other precautions or perhaps evacuate, but they never came.
Cars were racing up the street, some civilian vehicles, others with flashing lights. Something was certainly going on. All the activity seemed to end around 3 am, but i wasn't able to fall asleep until sometime past 4am, with my hopes of a good night sleep dashed...
I asked my hosts in the morning about the sirens, and to my astonishment they said they never heard them! What??? That's impossible, i thought. Well, maybe not. They had gotten used to the sirens, as that night was certainly not a unique incident. The town has a volunteer fire department, so apparently sirens are used regularly to alert firefihghters and call them to the scene. Don't these people have telephones??? Unbelievable!
Needless to say, i didn't feel well rested as i drove off to Indiana, my next stop on this long drive. For me this destination was the main reason for travelling although for me a ridiculous and redundant destination, mainly to resolve an issue for a 'friend' (please note that i use this term loosely here). Some people manipulate and try to entrap you into their service, and into an unwanted relationship. Our 'friendship' started with him asking me to help him find investment opportunities, which i foolishly did asking no compensation in return. Now i find myself the focus of blame for his mistakes. So this trip to a bank in Indiana was to try to loose some of the chains which this 'friend' has used to enslave me. As an old Estonian proverb says, 'No good deed shall go unpunished...'
The more positive destination on that evening was to the Detroit area to attended a party my good friend Agnes thew. Lots of Estonians together, many old friends, and a few new ones. The following day i spent with friends cycling by the lake, followed by a swim and picnic on the beach. It was a great and relaxing time.
Saturday morning after i helped a friend move a trailer and do some yard planning, i headed back to Canada. After 4 days on the road, spending time some great friends, I realised my travels had been squeezed into a too narrow timeframe. I would have loved to take a few more days to relax, but my schedule didn't allow it. At the end the trip i felt more tired than refreshed.
I guess what i missed was more true quality time. There was just too little of it, no quiet time for myself and little time for deeper conversations with friends. It's so much more enjoyable when you can spend hours or days without the time constraints and pressures of a tight schedule. We learn more about ourselves, more about our friends, more about God and the beauty of His creation.
As i look at m life and the lives of so many around me, the message again seems to be clear; slow down and smell the flowers along your path. We need to take more time to truly rest, as it helps take the edge off our so stessful lives. And there's just so much we can miss on a too speedy journey.
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