The Fog

Speeding down the two lane, I plunge into fog so dense that my headlight cannot even begin to pierce it, and so it seems very wise to slow down until the fog lifts a bit. Of course, it would be more comforting if I could see the lines on the side of the road, but, that simply isn't happening right now. As I try to let off the throttle, it fails to respond so I force it back to the idle position. Still, no response. If anything, it seems that the engine is gaining speed. The clutch and kill switch have no effect either! I would reach for the key, but it seems more prudent to hang on with both hands and do my best to keep her on the road! After all, sooner or later I have to come out of this blasted fog!

Isn't that like life sometimes? So many things - you know, responsibilities and stuff - pile up and absorb so much of our attention that it becomes difficult to see through them to the road ahead. As we try to slow down, life simply seems to gain momentum and takes on incredible speeds of its own - even when we want to stop and get off of the bike, our hands seem glued to the grips and so we fly along at warp speed just hanging on and waiting to come out the other side.

That is what our life feels like right now - super-fast motion. We had a great weekend and packed so much into it that we can hardly recount all that we did - literally, we can hardly remember some of it! Crazy you might say. It was kind of like a weeks worth of stuff in three days.

Now don't get me wrong, we had a great time with family and friends; with the kids in the marching band and even with those we just met. We would never trade our time with the people we got to spend the weekend with, not for anything! But that doesn't change the fact that sometimes with all that piles up, it seems as though we are in the midst of a deep, thick fog with so much is packed into life. Trying to close down one school year while planning the next marching season, at the same time building the calendar for our school for the next 12 months while trying to get it to fit into the calendar for the county and state events and... Yes, sometimes I find myself in a fog.

On the other hand, in just 12 days we will begin the Great Adventure! If all goes as planned, it will be like riding out of the fog into peace and quiet. Perhaps we can find ourselves in a place like this mallard duck just swimming along enjoying the sunshine. Not really worried about a thing [except maybe a thought on who might throw him a piece of bread!]. Just for the record, Dawn and I do not plan on begging for bread along the way, don't you worry about that! But we do long for the peace that the open road will bring; for the quiet that the breeze will offer; for the majestic sights that we will explore; and for the new discoveries that await us as we get to spend an awesome five weeks together. [By the way, if you enlarge this picture, that is a huge fish in the lower right corner of the frame - a common sight at the Spillway in Linesville, PA, on Pymatuning Lake where the "ducks walk on the fish"!]

You know, I would reach out and shake your hand if I could see you through this stupid fog!

Did I mention, just 12 more days?!