This weekend I’m embarking on a journey to move our kiddo from his summer place into his house in Bloomington, the place we hope he gets to reside for the rest of his college career. This is our 14th move in less than a year and to say we’re weary of boxes, and packing tape, and storage keys, would be an understatement. But funnier on this journey is the story of car tires. The story of how every time we have a vehicle fully loaded and we’re ready to make a ten plus hour drive, a warning light comes on. If this has ever happened to you, you know it’s not a good feeling when things start flashing while you’re running down the road at seventy miles per hour.
No one wants to drive across town with a warning light on, let alone watch it flash for 600 miles. So here I am in the backseat of a dealer shuttle, making my way to pick up my car just in time to reload and get on the road, setting off to help my birdy fly the nest when all I really want to do is keep him tucked safely in his childhood bed.
Last night I was inconsolable, spouting off phrases like “I don’t have time for this. I have a schedule to keep.” And my classic, “People are depending on me!” To anyone on the outside looking in, I’m sure it seemed simple enough, I was upset about the inconvenience of a car repair before a trip. But the truth is I’m upset about the stress of another move, about life at college in the time of Covid, about a new housing situation, about saying goodbye yet again. I’m so very sick of saying goodbye. So while my vehicle was warning me about tires yesterday, my heart took me other places. Warning! This is going to be hard. Warning! This is going to hurt. Warning! He’ll want you to leave long before you’re ready to say ‘see you in October. Warning! This may never get easier.
In the light of day my perspective has shifted and I’m grateful that I wasn’t somewhere in the middle of nowhere halfway to Indiana when that warning light came on. Grateful that my husband was able to leave work and help me, both with the car and with my heart. That the service manager at the dealership understands this harried mom just doesn’t want to let her kid down.
God shows up and uses interesting things these days to slow me down and get my attention. He always meets me right in the middle of my mayhem. Yesterday it was car tires and warning lights and I’m beyond grateful for the reminder that he’s given me just enough sense to see the blessings above the obstacles. #BuehlerLife
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