Where Will We End Up?

I could have titled this post a number of things…such as, “When Life Hands You Lemons, Make A Margarita  Lemonade.” Or, “Where in the World are Rose, Lauren and Rachel?” Or, “Life is Either a Grand Adventure or Nothing At All.” (not sure who to attribute that particular quote to, but it’s not mine). It could have been called, “My Trip to Florida That Turned into a Fly-by-the-Seat-of-My Pants Trip to…Who Knows Where!”

But, I chose “Where Will We End Up?” because that is going to be our story for the next few days. It will also be a story of making lemonades out of a bucketful of lemons. AND, a story of life is either a grand adventure or nothing at all. And we will most certainly be flying by the seat of our pants. But all of that was too long for a title. Although my last post had no title at all, so maybe a long title for this one would have been A Okay.

After having some impromptu plans I made fall through because I didn’t give enough thought to what I was planning, and after majorly disappointing my girls and I do mean MAJORLY disappointing them, (and myself too, I might add!) we had to come up with a new idea. I felt bad enough for my own reasons that our plans didn’t work out, but I felt extra bad because Lauren and Rachel were so very disappointed, even downright mad at me. It was my fault that things didn’t work out because I prematurely told them what I had in mind before I worked all the nitty gritty (important!) details. They were so excited, and then they were so angry at me when things didn’t turn out the way I expected they would. I know that is the way life plays out at times, but it wasn’t easy to see them so disappointed, especially when I was so down in the dumps about it myself.

SO, Lauren and Rachel decided we need to have some sort of fun girl’s trip anyway. Lauren even went so far as to say we should just fly by the seat of our pants (okay, so she didn’t really say THAT, but that is what she meant) and just get in our car and drive, see where we end up. I am really uneasy about that, though yeah, it does sound great and fun and very spontaneous and adventurous and chick flick worthy, but…well, I just can’t wrap my thoughts around driving for hours and seeing where we end up. I have been known to make plans without really thinking them through, even before this situation, and usually, they work out perfectly in the end. This time they didn’t, but at least in the past, there have been actual PLANS. Not having a plan frightens me. I like to have a plan, even if it’s not a well-thought out plan. I feel better having A PLAN.

Have I said the word PLAN enough? Why yes. I think I have.

While I don’t feel comfortable just throwing my girls and luggage in the car and speeding down the open road, I did the next best thing after Lauren said she wants to go south. I know that I don’t want to end up in Florida, since that is where I was supposed to be heading at 5 am tomorrow. I am pretty sure that would be way too depressing when I was already feeling depressed enough by how my uncarefully laid plans unraveled. So, I looked on google at a map of the United States, tried to determine where we could go, where there are interesting stops at various places along the way to wherever the heck we end up. I kind of broke the main rule of adventurous chick-flick worthy road trips and booked a hotel for tomorrow night in Memphis, only 5 hours away from home. (I think to make a really authentic road trip, you must not plan ahead, must stop at whatever no tell motel you happen to find when you are tired and it is time to stop for the night. I am way to chicken to do any such thing, so, I made a reservation. If we cross paths with someplace charming and quaint and unable to be passed up, we will stay there instead. But, for now, I take comfort in knowing that I have a destination, even if I am flying by the seat of my pants. For now, my plan is take the girls to Beale Street for some barbeque tomorrow night, maybe find a place to listen to some music, take a riverboat cruise Saturday afternoon, drive by Graceland and go from there. If we feel like leaving, we will leave Sunday morning to drive to New Orleans. It’s only another 6 hours or so, and I plan on stopping wherever and whenever we feel like it, and who knows where we will end up. I only hope it somewhere lively and fun. I hope it is somewhere the girls and I can make some delightful memories that we will treasure forever.

I am taking my computer on this grand adventure we are about to embark on, and I will post some awesome pictures and stories (hopefully!) that will (hopefully!) take my mind off what I wish I really was going to be doing the next few days.

Stay tuned. Who knows where we girls will end up. But, I have no doubt it will be a grand adventure. I’m sure it’s hot in the south, so we will probably drink lots of lemonade, too.