Yesterday, I drove down a road that I haven’t taken in months. Actually, it’s been almost a year since I drove down that particular road with the intention of going to that particular destination.
I used to drive that road almost every day. Later I drove it at least once a week. Sometimes the drive up and down that road took FOR. EV. ER. Once, when the alarm company called at two in the morning to tell me that my mother had fallen, I drove it very, very fast indeed.
When I drove it yesterday, there were many changes along the way that I hadn’t seen before. New houses. A new grocery store had been built. An old convenience store had been torn down.
At first glance, the house I came to at the end of my drive looked to be pretty much the same as always. But in reality, it had changed, too. Pumpkins lined the fence and nobody seemed concerned that someone might smash them. New outdoor furniture sat in the front yard, instead of in the back where it belonged. I didn’t have to go into the house to know everything inside would be different as well.
But that’s okay. I’ve changed, too, since the last time I’d driven down that road or walked into that house.
Everything changes.
Sometimes change seems to take forever. Sometimes it happens in a panicked rush and without regard for safety. Sometimes it is nothing more than new pumpkins at the fence. Sometimes it is a building that has been torn down.
There are times we can direct the change, choose to dress up our front yard instead of the back. There are times the changes come from choices somebody else has made, like deciding to rip up a field and put in a grocery store.
There are times when nobody directs the change, when nobody can force it to go in one direction or another. Then we just hold on and drive and don’t look around until we’re on the other side.
Change happens constantly, even when we don’t notice. Then we drive down a road we haven’t taken in a while to a destination that used to be familiar, and we are given the gift of new eyes to see all of the differences.
I guess that’s life.
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