A Slight Detour

Every now and then, you have a detour thrown at you. It may be an actual detour in the road or a detour in life. I have had both the good, the bad and the ugly, but I keep plugging along. What else can you do really?

Last week, it was literally a detour in the road that jumped in front of me. My daily commute takes about 20-30 minutes depending on traffic. I am lucky because I don’t drive with the flow of morning traffic but I do commute on one of the most dangerous highways. It’s about a 17 mile drive on a twisty, mountain road locals here refer to as “the hill.” The people going with the morning flow of traffic have it much worse than yours truly. I am always shocked at the back-up on the other side of the highway each day. Once in a while, my side gets the brunt of it.

Being a working mom, I am pretty set in my morning routine and schedule. I’m up early. I work-out. I get the kids ready, head out for daycare drop-off and on to the morning commute. No fuss, no muss. It’s the norm.

Following the drop off of my little boo, I headed out for what I thought was going to be a typical commute. As usual, I was cruising along with music playing (awful singing included) and then traffic came to a screeching stop. I was in the midst of my mountain drive with nowhere to go.

Did I mention “the hill” has a cement divider and very few areas to turn around? I was stuck. I had no food. I forgot to hit the ladies room before heading out and already late for work. It took an hour and a half to get to the first exit just a few miles down the road. I finally turned around and was heading home. Because I turned around with everyone else and it was rush hour, traffic was at a complete stand still again.

As my frustration grew and my bladder expanded, I felt done for the day even before it started. One thing was for certain, it was going to be a work-from-home day. I finally arrived home about two hours later, bolted through the front door and made a b-line for the potty. Whew!

Why the detour?

A beer truck. Yes, a beer truck stocked full of beer overturned. 3,000 gallons of beer met their demise that day. The driver intentionally wrecked the rig because he was losing his brakes while barreling down the mountainside. Thankfully no one was hurt.

Sitting on the highway with too many cups of coffee in my system was far from fun that morning but, I have to admit I had a good laugh when I finally settled in at home.

When I popped open a beer later that evening, I couldn’t help but wonder what will be the next detour to come my way. I can only assume it won’t involve 3,000 gallons of beer!