Different Paths

If all roads lead back home, why continually take the same ones?  If you go some place and are in no hurry, why not find an alternate road to get back home?  Is it exciting and adventurous?  Not really.  It's just something to do. 

Earlier this week, I cashed in on the thirtieth birthday present my wife got.  We both did something of a grand gesture for each other because we reached that milestone in our lives.  I took her away for the weekend into Minneapolis and we went and saw a play and just relaxed.  The weather wasn't the best, but then again it was in January so you always take your chances.  And she surprised me with a once in a lifetime opportunity for my birthday.  I got to drive a tank!  That is not the point of this post though, the point is that it was just an hour and a half away and there were several routes that I could take to get there and back.  So why take the same highway there and back? 

I had to make sure I was there on time, so I took the most direct route there.  Just two highways.  It wasn't all that fun.  There was nothing special about the drive.  Just bad drivers, gas stations, and fast food.  On the way back, I took a different route which took me through the two lane highways that twist and turn through a little bit of countryside with small towns of five or six hundred people.  Corn fields, trees along the road, and cattle pastures.  Part of the drive for me that makes it fun is the surroundings.  Going through these small towns that won't ever change.  I can always envision myself living in one of these towns in a different life.  But I also realize how much you can miss living in these small towns along the highway as opposed to living in a larger city or metropolitan area, so I will just stick with the big city living. 

While driving through these towns, I have an urge to stop at the local diner that sits along main street.  It's a picture in my head of Americana.  But part of the reason I don't ever do it is because I would hate to ruin that image.  I would hate to walk into one little diner and see how depressed it is because no one other than the locals eat there.  I would hate to see the person who has worked there for the last twenty years because they never 'got out'. 





That's the danger of an ideal image, it can be ruined in an instant.