I think some people really are blessed with navigation. And I find it funny because I spend loads of time thinking about navigation of life and helping others navigate their path. But when it comes to roadways and actually trying to navigate towns and highways and roads and places-well perhaps it is best you choose someone different to help you in that area. 

Regardless, there is nothing better than when you have finally arrived on that turnpike and the GPS says "straight for 265 miles" and you think to yourself "Yes. No bends. No turns. No nothing." Because for some of us, when the road begins straight for a bit, we can finally calm down and think. We don't need to navigate with our eyes and hands and feet. There is just room for the heart to roam and the head to think. We can think about where we are going and where we need to be, what we want to do and what we are perhaps procrastinating on a bit. And you would not believe it, but I think thinking and just thinking alone while you are driving passes the time so very quickly. It is amazing what you can think about when you have time to just do so. When all those other distractions are removed because well-you cannot check email when you are driving, or read that book, or study that material, or write that paper. It allows you to think about other things. Smaller details that maybe when you finally think about them are really not so small. It's just you and your mind and your music-particularly if you find yourself driving alone. 

Because sometimes I think a lot of us try to take the easy way out with out thinking, we listen to other's thinking, we cut corners, we think for a second and then make a decision, we call thinking for two minutes "enough contemplation." And that ezpass situation does not always work for us.

Funny enough, as I was thinking about the correlation between the ezpasses people try to take in life and the ezpass on the turnpike, my GPS suddenly alerted me that I would be stuck in traffic for about an hour and forty five minutes if I did not take the alternative route. Disliking traffic, but also disliking uncertainty, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. But being who I was, I listened to the navigator I was allowing to think for me and took the alternative route. Little did I know, that route would leave me off the turnpike and through an ezpass only lane which I clearly failed to read. Nevertheless, I'm sure I'll be getting a violation ticket sometime in the mail where I can pay what I didn't pay. And quite honestly, that little alternative route allowed me to see some beautiful land and churches in the suburb of Philly that I would have missed otherwise. But those ezpasses are not always so easy. 

But listen, if you are given the Ezpass to go somewhere, do it! I don't own an ezpass for my car, but I'm thinking about how many beautiful people have given me an ezpass. And that's not something to be taken lightly! A lot of us have friends in other locations. And truly, many of those weekend trips really aren't that bad. I've been saying I was going to travel to Philly for the last two years and it just never happened and finally I thought. You know what, I've been invited. I have a place to stay. I know I'm in good company. I know I will have a good navigator. Take that ezpass. That person or friend is trying to lead you out of where you are towards a new perspective. They are helping you find a new kind of whimsy. You have the power to take it or leave it. But take it from me, life is too short. Take those weekend trips. They are worth it-especially if you are given an authentic ezpass to do so. Sometimes that ezpass is not the cutting of corners, but the creating of new roadmaps on your heart. Keep your eyes open. those Ezpasses are all around us.