Well That Wasn’t the Plan

Vacation.

We had been looking forward to it for many months.  With high anticipation, we saw ourselves sitting on the beach reading good books and eating in restaurants with great seafood, the kind we can’t get locally.  We had plans for kayaking, boat rides and even our bucket-list-helicopter-ride.   And, my mind visualized writing content as I sat oceanfront, inspired by the pre-sunrise hours.

Nowhere on that list was, “Be on a hurricane watch.”  The worst weather-related thought we had was, “We hope it doesn’t rain all week like it did last year.”  Not once did we think, “What will we do if there’s a hurricane threat?”  Neither of us.

And yet, there we were, on a hurricane watch asking each other, “What should we do?”

We were prepared with plenty of food and water for the one nasty day of weather we were sure to see. But then, the talk of, “Who should evacuate?” and  “Who shouldn’t?” increased.  Our neighboring vacationer asked, “Are you leaving or staying?”

And so ensued the conversation of “What are our options?”

We could stay and find out that was a good choice and enjoy the remainder of our beachfront week which would, of course, make us super happy.

We could go home and find out that it would have been safe to stay, thus creating disappointment and regret.

We could also choose to go home and later learn it was exactly what we needed to do, and therefore experience relief at our decision.

The thing was, we just didn’t know.  And not one person nor weather forecaster could guarantee us either way leaving us stuck with a decision we didn’t want to make.

But then, after going back and forth once again, my husband said, “The worst decision we can make is to stay and discover we should have gone home.”

With that, we hurriedly packed and headed off of the island, three days early.

There are times when knowing what decision to make just isn’t clear.  You look one way and see possible good, even happiness. You look the other way and see potential disappointment.  One way is the absolute safe choice.  The other might be safe, but only maybe.  And you must make the decision with the uncertainty that looms.

But you must make the decision.

On this occasion, we made the safe choice and went home.  We later discovered we could have stayed.  But we only know that in retrospect.

To soothe my disappointed heart, I whispered a word of thanks to my mom for teaching me,

You make the best decision you can
at the time you’re making it and then you don’t look back.

Then, only looking forward, we saw several days ahead of us with which to do something new and unplanned.

 We chose to stay open to possibilities.

Next Week:
Why leaving was the best choice even though we could have safety stayed.