Impromptu Adventure

I pretty much stink at surprises.  Seriously, if someone is planning to surprise me, I’m going to find a way to ruin it.  My husband’s marriage proposal almost didn’t happen because I did everything could to ruin his plans, unknowingly.  With one of my pregnancies, my husband informed me of a surprise baby shower because he knew I would somehow thwart the planning.

I struggle with the unknown and not being in control of it.  I have to be prepared.  I have to plan.  I will think of a laundry list of everything that will have to be accomplished before it happens, then ultimately give up or decided it will have to be done another time.

I’m not spontaneous or fun.  I know this. I’m working on it.

It has only been in the past year where I have been consciously working on being a little more relaxed and more willing to go with the flow.  I have come to the conclusion that, I don’t want my children to miss out on great experiences in life because mom didn’t plan for it.

I would have to say, this conscious effort helped our transition in Louisiana.  Within a couple of weeks of our arrival, my husband decided, out of the blue to take us to Lake Ponchatrain.  I could think of a hundreds reasons not to (we just moved, flood recovery, where will we park, where will we eat, etc.), but pushed all of that aside knowing that my kiddos needed a day of fun and adventure.

That day ended up being one of our favorite memories and something we did again before we left.  The beach town of Mandeville was beautiful and the kids loved the drive across the bridge as well as swimming in the lake.  We found the best beach restaurant complete with an outdoor eating area with a huge sandbox for the kids.  The homes along the lake are picturesque, right out of a movie.  Our family had a great time and no one cared that nothing was planned out.

Another impromptu trip was to Houston.  I had already gone to a writers conference there and loved the area.  I knew I wanted to take the family back.  The only thing we planned was a hotel reservation, the rest was completely decided along the way and I didn’t fight any of it.  The 5 hour trip ended up taking 9 hours due to traffic hiccups and detours.    Instead of our original plan to drive straight there, along the interstate, Hubby suggested we take a detour down to Galveston, Texas which involved a ferry ride.  I hesitated, knowing this would add several hours to our trip, but it was worth it.  The kids loved the ferry ride and seeing the huge cruise ships.  The gulf was gorgeous despite the long line waiting to load on to the ferry.

You never know where God’s surprises will arise.  If I wait for a plan, a way, and everything to make sense, this life will remain predictable and blind to God showing me the cool things He has created.  I would have missed out on life, a crazy life God created us to experience.

Today, I almost thwarted another impromptu adventure. Hubby wanted to drive to the beach, two hours away.  I immediately started throwing out all of the reasons why this wouldn’t work and then I stopped myself.

We ended up having a great time.  The weather was perfect and the beach was beautiful. It was a nice getaway before start of school.  Too many times, I almost miss God’s blessings because I might be inconvenienced.  I am so thankful for those times I didn’t listen to my own reservations.  There are too many blessings to discover and memories to be made!