God Bless the Winding Road

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by,

and that has made all the difference.” -Robert Frost

The winding road along the Croatian Coast, near Bosnia

One year ago, I would’ve never guessed I’d be where I am today.

This week, our family has been vacationing for our kids’ Spring Break from school at the shore. Not at the coast of Florida, or South Texas, or California, but in the extreme south of coastal Croatia.

As recent as a year ago, I could’ve never imagined I’d be standing in Croatia. My husband and I were hopeful at some point, on some year, he’d be offered a position with his company overseas, but we could not have imagined where that road we hoped for would take us. Only a few months later, we were selling our home and cars, packing up our family, and moving across the ocean to Prague.

It’s funny, as we dare to listen to our hopes and dreams, we naturally tense up from fear. None of us knows exactly what tomorrow will bring. Or the next moment. And it leaves us with the choice: to become paralyzed with fear, or to embrace the winding road and whatever it may bring.

Krka, Croatia

To open ourselves up to possibility is to open ourselves up to receive the blessings …

When we’re on the winding road pointing toward bigger dreams, we can’t see what lies around the next bend, past the next corner, beyond the coming hills and mountains and challenges and peaks. Daring to follow the challenging course, the one that stretches us and brings us closer to who we hope to become, can be scary. But if we can let go of the fear of the unknown and simply let ourselves trust, we can find the exhilaration and untapped joy beyond any we’ve ever imagined.

the extraordinary blues from our little gem along the Adriatic

Today, as the sun set over the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, I saw a sunset like no other I’ve ever seen in my life. Lush mountains spilled down into the azure water of the Adriatic Sea. Three lighthouses perched among rocky islands began their blinking for the night. And the setting sun streamed tangerine light across a glittering bay. Unforgettable.

Tomorrow, we leave for home, Prague, our expat home away the USA. As we wind around the curving roads leading up and through the mountains of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech, and again, we’ll embrace the possibility lying just beyond the bend … God bless the winding road.

Starting the Conversation: Where have your winding roads taking you? What amazing possibilities have opened up as a result from your choice-- being open and taking the winding road?

Road Tripping and Finding Thanks

This past weekend, we ventured on a road trip. Just like the old folk song goes, “Over the meadow and through the woods …” Well, that was us this Thanksgiving. We went over the meadow and through the woods to share some of the holiday weekend with relatives. We’ve made the same journey so many times we can almost predict what comes next before it even gets there. Like the gas station lady at a small town gas station lining I-75 who greets everyone with a twangy, “What’s can I do fer ya’?” I always love the accent, thick enough to substitute for molasses. I grew up with it, and somehow though I’ve lost most traces of a Southern accent, I’ve never lost the fondness for it. And then the next words out of her mouth as she glanced at our license plate: “Where’s you from in O-Hi-Ya?” Apparently, everyone she meets from “O-Hi-Ya” is from “Cin-cin-a-ta”. Yep, that’s where we’s from, too.

Every time we reach the top of the Smoky Mountains and the spectacular views, we cringe. Not because we’re afraid we’re going to fall off or we’re afraid of driving it, but every time we pass that way someone in the car is dying to find a bathroom. Of course, there is no respectable bathroom for miles up there. But memories of taking one of our then-toddlers onto the side of the road to do his business has left a deep groove in our minds. We’ll just say that particular time we had to leave the pants and the underwear behind. On this trip, it was just our dog who could hardly wait for a place to pull over. If it’s not one, it’s another.

At our destination, the noisy yet graceful Sandhill cranes greeted us with their nightly antics on the Tennessee River. The current economic times and other strains of life feel much smaller when I can taste a bit of Nature’s beauty and the cycles it has sustained over time. I love time spent out in Nature.

On the way home, we were all excited to be back in the car. Of course, the dog lit up our drive with regular emissions of her specialty blue fog. Instead of the in-car DVD being the anticipated entertainment, a jar of 34 river snails captivated the attention of our boys for the entire six hours. And though embarking on a new adventure to another part of the country is always fun, we were thrilled to see the Cincinnati skyline from the cut-in-the-hill … home again. What better time to have a fresh sense of thanks than during the holiday that inspires gratitude?

This season, I know I am truly thankful for our family and our health—and that Together is a wonderful place to be.