Vee Dub Part II

This weekend we went to St. George for a family event. We left late at night amidst frustration and high levels of anxiety that were largely the result of to trying to cram four hours of work into half an hour of time and not succeeding. We left at 9:00 at night for a five hour drive. About half way there our lovely Vanagon broke down. Now, this wasn't a regular old break down like the ones we are used to. This was a major, not-going-anywhere, won't-even-start kind of breakdown. And it was late at night in the middle of nowhere and it was cold and raining. My superhero husband got out and worked on the dang donkey vehicle for an hour and a half, shivering in the rain and the mud. The rest of us huddled together inside, trying to keep warm. Finally it became obvious that we weren't going anywhere till morning. We pulled out the bed that is one of the redeeming qualities of the vanagon and tried to go to sleep. Unfortunately, because it was warm when we left and we were going somewhere even warmer, the only thing we had to keep us warm were a few baby blankets. I think it was inspiration that helped me remember to pack those. And it was cold. My feet were refrigerated all night long. We hardly slept. All I could think about all night long was pioneers, doing this kind of thing in the snow, with only flimsy tents or less for shelter. The other thing, besides the cold, that kept me awake was thinking about was my kids and trying to keep them warm. We kept our bodies smashed together to share body heat. (I woke up with the biggest kinks in my muscles.) I imagined how the pioneer mothers must have felt when their children cried out in the cold and there was nothing they could do to keep them warm. I just felt grateful that our situation wasn't worse. I even felt grateful for the opportunity to imagine on a more personal level what the pioneers went through.

The next morning Bryan's dad came and got us. He drove a long way alone in the early morning to get there by breakfast. He drove me and the children to get breakfast while Bryan had the vanagon towed to a shop (we were only 1 mile away from it!). By the time we got back from breakfast the vanagon was up and running again. Miraculously, the repair shop in the middle of nowhere had the exact part we needed and they figured out the problem on the first try. Miraculously.

So we continued on our way, really not much worse off for the adventure. Afton told me she liked sleeping in the cold vanagon all night on the side of the road. I asked her why and she said she felt like a pioneer. Funny.
We had a great time in St. George with all the family. It really was a lovely weekend.

All this got me thinking today. What if I would have been focused on the destination (outcome) instead of the journey (process)? It would have been a disaster. But I wasn't. By some tender mercy, I was really just living in the moment. I wasn't worried about what would happen next or fretting about how we should have done things differently to avoid this problem. I was just fully focused on the now, in the process. And that was what made it great.