Entrances and Exits

Today, on the fifth day of the A to Z blogging challenge I once again find myself on the road, this time heading to North Carolina. Evidently, the weather is as wonderful up there as it was in Florida. Maybe my sister’s pool will even be open for business and we can once again swim in clear water.

I can’t help but notice, with all this time on the road, that there are a few things one experiences fairly consistently upon the journey, especially on highways and interstates. Entrances and Exits are two of these things. That got me to thinking about some of the entrances and exits that I have witnessed in my life and what they have meant, how they have made me who I am. Like my entrance into the world. I came at a time when the normal practice was to put the mother to sleep during the birth of her child. My mother hated missing my entrance and didn’t allow that to happen with my sister two years later. The doctors had a fit about it. But my mother prevailed and so was conscious for her second child’s entrance into her life. When my own children were born, that particular practice had exited the scene and I was more than awake for both of their entrances. Having seen my mother’s regret, I wouldn’t have missed those experiences for anything in the world.

An exit that left a profound mark upon me was when the love I’d cherished for six of the most formative years of my life, 13 to 19, exited, escaped, expired. Left dumbfounded, left empty for a long while, I searched for ways to get the young man out of my habitual needs and thoughts. It took a very long time, longer than I care to admit (I’m stubborn, I’ve been told). But I was lucky enough to listen to my empathetic angels when the true and only love-of-my-life decided to introduce himself. His entrance into my life heralded a change so profound and deep that I, even with some troubled waters over the years, bless the day he walked into my life, changing it forever and ever.

Our children are now experiencing their own entrances and exits of people, places and events in their lives. I watch them from a distance, sometimes closer sometimes farther. Life is so full, rich and challenging, I’ve noticed, when I pay attention to the entrances and exits, tiny and massive, that abound in my life. The doors and windows that constantly open and close each day keep my face lifted to the breeze and don’t allow laziness, boredom or fear to stagnate my spirit.  

I guess that the metaphor of the highways I now travel upon, with their on and off ramps, is one we can all relate to. We have had exits and entrances along our routes that have changed our directions. Paying attention to them, giving them their due, you know…it’s a good way to know you’re alive. 

Photos:

upstatenyroads.com  exit

aaroads.com  entrance