I had a funny moment of enlightenment lately (and I nearly missed it)~

A solid, accessible option for a restoring-kind of Saturday Day Trip, and I almost let it pass me by. Lucky for me that the universe grabbed me by the lapels –like that great Mary Engelbreit illustration– and said “Snap Out Of It!”

A friend had offered me keys for her cabin up in north Georgia, if I’d like any get-away time during the week or weekend. The open invitation had sat kind of lolling in my mind — maybe yes, maybe no. “We’ll see” Since it was a rare and open Saturday, I had no one else to answer to about it. Yet as the day approached, tiny little “possible out’s” filtered through my head. (Oh it’s a long drive, oh there might be snakes in the lake, oh it might be sweltering sitting on that deck, oh .. oh…)  And then a funny thing happened.

Unbelievably, I actually remembered a concept from physics texts: Newton’s First Law goes something like this:  an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. And I thought, well, hunh!!  So considering that I would be safely and peacefully sitting at my home near Atlanta, it would be loads, loads easier to simply stay put. Staying home would have been the easier answer —the First Law of physics answer (“Once at home, stay at home.”)

Rebel that I am, I thought: Ok then, I’m goin!

Packed the dog & her travel crate, cup of coffee, spare CDs and headed up for the 95 minute drive. It was a lovely Day Trip. Pulled in with a crunch on the gravel driveway & stopped to ooh at the first sight of the lake. Swam a bit, hung out on the hot-breezes dock, tromped through the woods, and chuckled @ my dog blissfully swimming in circles in the big wide lake. Had a picnic lunch w/limeade and finished my book in the ‘Treehouse Room.’

As the sun set down, it was time to lock up the cabin & head back to town. My maybe-favorite part of the whole trip was driving the 30 miles of country-road at sunset~~the wide fields of wild flowers, the chorus of crickets & bull-frogs, tin-roofed barns. I forget which I was reminded of more often by the signs there: that Jesus loves me or that there was a big ol’  Rodeo in the area that night. Both of those, tho, sounded like good information to have. 

Next time I become aware of factors lulling me into Easy Answers, I’ll remember this gem of a Day Trip. Was it worth the risk and the get-up-and-go that were required?? You betcha!

Claudia Brogan is a lifelong trainer and educator, having worked and taught at universities in student leadership, psychology, student advising, and counseling. Lately, she's foraying into doing training in the public health arena, which is a very different world indeed, a risk in itself! She'll try anything once, if it sounds fun, and so she’s joining this circle of resourceful, colorful, gutsy women – what the hell?! Claudia can be reached on Facebook.
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