Tuesday’s Detour

I don’t usually enjoy the fall.  It brings winter. But yesterday I had a peaceful moment that brought a little bit of “calm” to my anxiety laden life.

Yesterday I was forced to take a detour on highway 203 between Duvall and Monroe.  I was heading home. It was beautiful.  I am not sure I can write the reasons: maybe the river, the trees still holding on to their leaves, the farms that dot the valley, the sunshine that allowed me to drive with the window down, the quiet that I usually dread was even a comfort to me.  It was one of those brief moments that become a memory though you aren’t even sure why.  It was a beautiful addition.  I want to drive the detour again just to repeat the feeling of calm and contentment I felt but I am afraid it wouldn’t be the same.

However, when I got home I began thinking about my detour and a little bit of guilt set in.  You see, the detour was in place due to a fatality accident.  I even saw the ambulance come into Monroe with lights on but no speed behind it.  As if its passenger didn’t seem to be bothered by how quickly it made it to Valley General.  The drivers took the curves with caution but no urgency  accompanied this leg of the journey.

I wish I could have given some of the peace I felt to the family finding out about their loss.  I know what its like, and I would have traded them: their pain for my moment of serenity.  I wouldn’t have had it in the first place right? Its a shame their beautiful day would be scarred and mine still remain lovely.  I pray they find solace, if not in that day in another soon.