Detoured

                Have you ever been on a road trip and decided to take a side road just for the heck of it?  We rarely do that.  Terry gets in the car with a destination in mind and goes straight forward until he gets there, like a work horse with blinders on. He has always been focused both on the road and in life.            

               So, when we do get off the road, we usually know where we are going and what we are going to see.  Because of some of those detours, we have been able to enjoy beautiful vistas, or experiences that we would otherwise not have enjoyed.  Sometimes the road is bumpy and uncomfortable.  I remember one off road experience in Colorado that was downright scary, and Terry made us all get out of the car while he negotiated a turn, just in case the car slipped off the cliff.  Fortunately he did not slide 300 feet into the ravine and we made it back without injuries.

              Sometimes a detour is due to circumstances beyond our control.  I also remember an experience where an auto accident on the highway caused our delay.  There was no place to detour and so a destination that would normally take an hour and a half to complete, took us 5 hours.  As annoying as it was, we made the best of the experience by chatting with other drivers and sharing water on a very hot day.  We were more prepared than some for the unexpected.  The important thing was that we did eventually arrive at our destination.

            Life is a series of detours.  Some detours are by choice, other detours are brought upon us by circumstances beyond our control.  Often those detours are rough and uncomfortable and if you are lost, it is hard to find the right road to get back on track.  Aaron’s life has been one of many detours, so we were especially delighted to sit in the audience at Grand Canyon University to watch him finally graduate from college with a degree in Business Entrepreneurship.   He was seated toward the back of the graduates so we had a long wait.  While I was waiting to hear them announce “Aaron Scott Gardner” I was impressed with the presenter’s ability to pronounce some very difficult names.  With an area as diverse as ours, we were hearing Native American names, Asian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and occasionally names that I was sure the parents not only made up the name, but the spelling as well, to the point I would consider them unrecognizable.  Finally Aaron approached the podium and we heard loud and clear, “Aaron Silverfox Gardner”!  What?!?  Where most families in the audience applauded and cheered, the 7 of us just looked astonished and burst into laughter.  I guess Aaron couldn’t resist taking one more detour, this one from the truth.

 Aaron Silverfox Gardner