Thursday, June 30, 2011

There are some things that just shouldn’t be.  Los Angeles traffic is one of those.  Earlier this evening, I had to go and pick up two of our grown kids from a main airport.  Since it was later in the week and day, I knew traffic would factor into things, but I had no idea just how much. 

I was excited that a meeting I’d attended landed me halfway between my office and the airport, shaving off a good amount of time.  Getting to the airport went just about as expected.  Hit a little traffic along the route. 

Though each of my kids arrived from different locales and on separate airlines, we arranged to have them meet up together so I could pick them up at one spot and time.  They managed to locate one another without too much trouble and claim my daughter’s luggage, which she’d checked.  I had parked a few minutes from the airport and was ready when they called to be picked up. 

So far so good….

Then came the arduous drive home.  That ordeal, which should have been an hour-long drive without traffic, took us four and a half hours due to fighting traffic! 

Ugh!

Though my kids were tired, as was I, from a long day, we made the most of our time spent inching along the congested freeways.  We sludged our way through a stream of cars, hardly moving at times, completely stopped at others and at most, driving barely fast enough to generate a slight breeze should the windows have been rolled down.  During that time, we caught up with one another, sharing stories of what the other had been up to.  The whole while, as is a common occurrence when interacting with my kids, the car reverberated with our laughter.

Hour after hour rolled by.  We passed some obvious reasons for the added traffic—accidents.   Most of the time, we saw no cause for the added delay.  Either way, it didn’t matter.  We settled in for the long drive and set our minds to make the most of our situation. 

What could have turned into a long intolerable drive, ended up being manageable due to the resistance of each of our spirits, positive attitudes and willingness to engage with one another the whole while.  So, though it never should have taken us nearly that long to get home, traffic or not, it did provide us extra time to spend with one another.  And for that, I’m grateful!