It’s just something we love to do.
Our adult daughter laughs and says it borderlines “lame”.
Our grandchildren whine if they happen to be tagging along.
Maybe the slow lane of the back roads isn’t for those in a hurry.
But taking the long way home is a mini-date however far the drive, when you’re filling the love tank of the one sitting next to you with your gallons of quality time.
Some may call it the cheap seats, but the best seats in the house get a private tour of God’s country most eyes will never go out of their way to see.
You must be willing to escape reception and disconnect from the busy grid of life. Willing to lose your way along the winding paths where most GPS’ are unable to find the dropped breadcrumbs of your location. Willing to drown out the voices of your to-do-list, and enjoy the simple pleasures together of the long way home.
The calendar has recently ushered in the first week of November and the fashion show of leaves and their brilliant wardrobe color changes down the runway of fall is almost drawing its curtains to a close.
But an encore performance is reserved for season ticket holders willing to slow down or even stop for fall’s final show.
With December just a month away, you can almost smell the pine trees of Christmas with the wind gently blowing from your rolled down window and the heat cranked up on high.
Taking the long way home this time of year, it’s never too early to bring out of hiding those holiday CD’s we’ve been secretly playing anyway since the summer heat of July.
Yes, we are those people who praise God around the Thanksgiving table for his baskets full of blessings, but celebrate also with a Christmas tree perfectly placed in the living room corner, trimmed and beautifully lit as a night sky of twinkling stars.
Still holding hands and allowing the overflow of our hearts water a conversation for two along the miles of the long way home, it’s no surprise we’re still married and in love after all these years.
The long way home gives you time to reacquaint yourselves with one another, as life changes from day to day like the four seasons do, and one must dress appropriately for the weather escorted in.
Usually not, when the compass of our travels is a constant turn to the east or west down roads where the scenery isn’t familiar and stirs your curiosity for any hidden log cabins to discover.
Then is the map you follow for those log cabins you long to see for the umpteenth time, stopping at the edge of their driveway and dreaming together over a few sips of our coffee, adding a childlike gift to our Christmas list once again this year.
The best seats in the house can be purchased for the price of a few gallons of gas and uninterrupted moments of time except to enjoy and take in the view of nature’s carefree children chasing each other around the trees and deep into the woods of their private playground.
“Money can’t buy me love.”
But quality time together taking the long way home will always fashion two hearts for love.
Love is never about the what, the where, the when, the why, and the how.
True love is about “the who” you’re with; that special someone seated next to you alongside the long way home.
Discovering this, you’ll realize the counterfeits of romance pales in comparison.
Lori! Once again you have managed to pen words that I feel deep down in my soul!!! I, too, LOVE to drive “the long way” and hold hands and talk…leaving behind all the “stuff” of life…at least for a little while.
Thank you for sharing this with all of us!!
You are always so sweet. Your words are greatly appreciated: