But What If We Get Lost?

Around 10:30 this morning, I started making sandwiches.  The sun was shining, I was feeling wonderful and I was in the mood for an adventure.  I packed a half of a bag of Wavy Lays, a bag of apple slices AND by some STRANGE stroke of luck, I found the ingredients for Griffith s’mores—cinnamon graham crackers, marshmallow cream and chocolate chips.  Bam.  Picnic packed. 

Husband and daughter kept asking “Where are we going?”  I kept replying “On a picnic, sillies!”  Of course that wasn’t satisfying their controlling natures that yearned to know the specific location we were heading on this spur of the moment picnic, but I made them sweat it out.  Well…because even I didn’t know at this point where we were heading!  I just knew the sun was shining and it was an awesome day for an adventure.

I told husband to get on the interstate and we headed west.  Got off at Harts Run and headed to the Greenbrier State Forest.  There’s not much there—just a bunch of picnic areas and a rickety old metal slide and some trails. 

We arrived and we set up our picnic, despite the horrible wind that plagued our visit.  

We slammed down our lunch and then 

took a few slides down the rickety old metal slide.  

We proceeded to explore and found this really cool fire pit that had tons of seating around it.  Husband said we should have church over there.  Natalie said that’s what the fire pit at Camp Overlook looked like.  Wyatt wanted to build a fire.  We pressed on looking for trails. 

One way we went started off looking like a trail, but we then figured out it wasn’t, so we turned back.  Finally, we stumbled on an actual trail.  It was marked with little flags which is really cool for the directionally challenged, such as ourselves.  We came to a crossroad where we could go left, right or up the mountain.  I wanted to go up the mountain, but husband said he wanted to walk parallel to the road for some unknown reason, so we went right (**remember this part, it’s important!)  After I told them that I heard snakes had already been seen in the last week or so, they decided to pick up a walking stick.  Husband picked up a stick and after about ten feet of walking, the dead branch broke in half.  Now we had two sticks.  WINNING!  We continued on the trail and that took us all of about 50 yards until we came upon a picnic shelter.  Husband looked up towards the empty picnic shelter and started channeling his inner ancient native warrior and began, “We are from Camp Fire Pit to the north.  We come in peace.”  Of course, extreme laughter erupted from behind him as he continued the Native American bit.  THEN, as if “Chief LOL” was literally smiling down on us, I looked down on the trail below and there was a dream catcher laying on the ground.  

Really?  What are the odds of your husband acting like an Indian and then looking down at that exact moment and finding a dream catcher?  We put the dream catcher on third born’s walking stick and declared him “Dances with Dream Catcher” and he promptly replied that he wished to be called “Chief Dream Catcher.”  And so it was.

Chief Dream Catcher and the rest of us loaded up in the native Chrysler Town and Country and decided to drive on through the park.  We came to the end and we continued on to look for wildlife.  The road was windy and narrow and once we came to an intersection, husband asked if we wanted to take a chance and go on or if we wanted to turn around and go back. 

Of course I wanted to keep going.  I’m the spontaneous, fly by the seat of my pants member of the family.  My first date with him began normal enough-- with flowers and dinner and when we left dinner, I said, “Let’s drive south.”  First sign I saw said Bristol.  I said, “Let’s go to Bristol.”  Before we made it to Bristol, I saw a sign that said Knoxville.  I said, “Let’s go to Knoxville.  About 3 am, all those eighteen years ago, we arrived in Pigeon Forge.  And the rest is history, as they say.

Chief Dream Catcher worries a lot about things an eight year old Indian Chief really shouldn’t worry about.  We’ve always thought he was wise beyond his years.  Perhaps with that gift also come the negatives of an old soul.  Chief Dream Catcher has to make sure all the doors are locked before bed.  He worries about school and his friends and his family and just about everything you can imagine.  And some that you can't.  His heart is pure gold but I worry about him worrying so much.  Husband has also noticed it in the last couple of weeks.  Probably because I told him.  And then told him it’s all his fault that the Chief worries excessively.  I mean, sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade.

When we came to that intersection, Chief Dream Catcher said “But what if we get lost?  Let’s just go back.  We shouldn’t take any chances.”  Husband turned the vehicle around and we headed back the way we had come.  I looked at husband and it was as if something finally clicked and he knew exactly what I was thinking.  At that moment, he wheeled the van back around and assured the Chief that sometimes we DO need to take chances and since we have a full tank of gas and the van is in tip top shape, we would be just fine.  And even if we did get lost…well so what?  We’d figure it out.

We went over the mountain and through the woods, skimmed Monroe County, WV, saw Tuckahoe Lake and made it safely back to White Sulphur Springs, despite having no idea where we were 99% of the time.

Some things work better with a plan and a schedule.  Sometimes you have to light a match to the plan and just take a chance though.  Sometimes they’re small chances like whether to continue a Sunday drive and sometimes they’re huge life changing, courageous chances. 

Hopefully the Chief will remember that lesson.  

And hopefully the rest of us will too.

Until next time,

Lightning Bug