Thursday 19 July 2012

Sometimes the wrong direction ends up being the right direction


Yesterday we set out to go to Kielder Forest. A bit later than we would have liked so we were a little stressed about getting there on time.
My husband had mapped the route out prior to us getting in the car. We knew we had to go on the A1 then to the A69 but what we didn't realise is that we had to head South first to go west then North. My husband had made the logical assumption that the forest was north of where we were so he believed we needed to head North. So when we got to the A1 and saw the sign for A69 South, my hubsand dismissed that exit and headed to the sign that said A1 North.
We drove on that road for about 15 minutes but grew concerned when we did not see any signs for the A69. So to my husband's credit we stopped to ask for directions. And we were told we were heading in the wrong direction! That we were supposed to exit on the A69 South. My husband was angry with himself for making such a stupid mistake. We were all panicked that we would never get to our 11 o'clock appointment to feed the birds of prey.  And to add insult to injury it was pouring down with rain. The wind had picked up and it was looking to be a miserable day. Not exactly the conditions to be handling birds of prey.
I then decided to call the people at the Forest to explain our situation. And the lady that was supposed to be working with us said they were just talking about us and were going to contact us to let us know that it was too windy to work with the birds of prey. She said if we did not mind they would prefer to postpone the appointment to another day. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. The pressure was off. The tension in the car eased. But we were on the road so we wondered what we were going to do next.
My husband then asked if anyone wanted to go to WhiteHall Farm instead. My daughter immediately got excited because that's where she had wanted to go all along because she wanted to pet guinea pigs. And we had passed the signs for the farm when we made the U-turn to put us on the right road for the forest. And then I realised I was being taught an invaluable lesson, we are never lost. It's just that sometimes we have to make the wrong turn to make the right turn to take us to the place we are meant to go. Not the place we think we ought to go. But where we are meant to be.
Reminding me that sometimes we may feel that we have made the wrong turn but if we are patient enough and listen to our inner compasses, we will dscover that we were acutally placed on the path we were meant to go on in the first place. Sometimes even the wrong turn ends up being the best path for us. Better than the one we thought we were meant to be on. Sometimes it's better to just go with the flow and enjoy the journey because it will take us where we are meant to go. Not always where we thought we would be but always where we need to be.
That wrong turn yesterday leading us in the wrong direction, so we thought, ended up taking us to the place where we were meant to be. And it turned into a glorious morning once we made the decision to go to the farm. The sun came out. The sky was blue for more periods than not. It was still windy but we were able to enjoy a good family afternoon together. My daughter petting more than the guinea pig she wanted to pet because she got to pet rabbits and a mouse. My son got to ride around on a go cart. All of us did actually ending our outing with a family go cart race. All of us laughing and having a great time under unexpected blue sunny skies in the Northeast.
All these unexpected pleasures coming after having initially thought our day was ruined because we had taken the wrong turn and were heading in the wrong direction. Only to discover we were always heading in the direction we were meant to be heading in. And ended up at a place that was full of surprises. Just like life, we are never lost. If we listen to our inner compasses on those occassions when we feel like we are heading in the wrong direction and go with the flow, we will always end up where we are meant to be. Always but only after we stop resisting and just going with the flow.

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