Hurrycanes

Today I had to drive home from NY to Cape Cod. I had been watching hurricane Sandy creep closer to my beach home all weekend, trying to determine the best time to make my getaway. According to the Boston news things weren't supposed to get rough until late afternoon. My best bet was to leave at 7am and land in my easy chair before the noontime news.

Armed with "car food" and a Dunkin Donuts pumpkin coffee, I set out on time. I reached the first rest stop on the Mass Pike without incident. I posted no wind and no rain on Facebook, used the facilities and headed back out. No sooner did I hit the highway again when a wind gust shook my car and the rain came pelting down. So much for my post. Was it just not raining in the Lee rest stop parking lot?

Climbing higher into the Berkshires the wind kept knocking my car every few miles and the rain increased its beating on my windshield. At first I felt a twinge of "Oh no. Do I really want to do this for 3 more hours?" But it was a short lived twinge. My music lulled me, my coffee was delicious, and white cheddar popcorn just makes any situation bearable.

I settled into a nice driving rhythm and it took a few miles for me to realize I didn't have my windshield wipers on. The rain is crazy, slapping at my windshield, not giving up for anything, and still I persisted without any wipers on, with a clear view of the road. Then I realized:

I have Rainex on my windshield.

I started laughing out loud to myself. While driving, I was thinking back to all the trips back and forth to NY I made over these very roads for the past two years. I fought a lot of battles on those solitary trips. I cried a lot of tears on them too, trying to figure this life out. Just yesterday I was given a huge answer to a question I had been asking God everyday for well over six years now. The answer was splayed out in front of me in the ending of a book I finished last night, "Love, Anthony" by Lisa Genova. When I reviewed it here yesterday, I hadn't finished it yet. When I finished it last night, I was in tears. I closed the Kindle and fought to catch my breath. It was late, so I didn't exactly get the point it was making in my life yet. Until today. Driving, thinking back over the last six years, reliving both pain and lovely, sweet times, I suddenly realized why I never walked away from a tough gig or never gave up – even when it was like crawling through a dark tunnel on my knees, over broken glass. Suddenly, today, the answer was right in front of me:

I had Rainex on my windshield.

Batter me. Beat on me. Pelt hard on me over and over. Splash….but roll right over the top of me without blurring my vision. I thought, being a wife and a mother, I knew what it was to love unconditionally. I've written a few blogs on it. I had no clue. Now I know the answer to the question "Why Lord, did you put this person in my life?" And now I know the true meaning of unconditional love. God answers in funny ways. In this case it was in the ending to a wonderful book.

I completed the trip in deep thought and tremendous peace. Three hours flew by like three minutes. The Bourne Bridge shocked me when it loomed up out of the gray sky.

And so, as another day goes by, I pray for the safety of all in the path of this storm, I give thanks for Rainex and extraordinary authors that know the workings of the heart, and…I have written.

Be nice...please share.

Pinterest

Twitter

Email

Facebook