I planned to spend fall break with my relatives in Cincinnati. I decided to leave Sunday afternoon after church and return home on Wednesday evening so I could be back in town to teach my Thursday evening community college class.
A few days prior to my intended journey, I talked with a friend I’ve known since elementary school. In the course of our phone conversation I learned that my friend wanted to go to Canton, Ohio to do some fishing. I was at my computer, and I looked up Canton on the map. Map Quest told me that it was just short of an hour’s drive from Cincinnati to Canton, so I asked my friend if he would like to ride with me. He was agreeable, and we made our plans to travel.
The first dilemma happened before I left town. A colleague of mine passed away, and the receiving of friends was to be in Knoxville the first Monday of fall break week. I adjusted my plans to deliver my friend to his destination on Sunday, stay Sunday night at my niece’s house, then drive back Monday for the viewing.
I left church after Sunday School and went to pick up my friend. After filling ourselves with Subway sandwiches and the car with fuel, off we went. I asked my friend for the address, and entered it into Google using my phone. (Consequently, don’t you love it when Google instructs you to “drive east”? What does she think I am, a compass? If I knew directions, why would I need her?)
Second dilemma—the address he gave me was in Elyria, Ohio, not about an hour north of Cincinnati, more like three and a half hours! I got my friend to his destination around eight o’clock in the evening, then had to backtrack to my niece’s house. Like the amazing person she is, my wonderful niece waited up for me and fed me between 11:30 p.m. and midnight a delicious roast she had prepared for dinner.
I slept late on Monday, then began my drive to Knoxville in the afternoon.
On Tuesday, my friend called and told me that he had indeed intended to book his room and fish in Canton, Ohio. He somehow inadvertently booked the room in Elyria by mistake. He offered to utilize Uber to come to Canton so that I wouldn’t have to drive so far back to get him. I let him know that I appreciated the thought, but I realized that this would cost him a small fortune. I advised him to just stay put, and he took that advice. As a result of his mistaken room booking, my friend did not get to dip a single hook in any fishing waters on this trip.
Third dilemma—while on my way down I-75 South in the left-hand lane, the car in front of me suddenly braked. I also braked. We did not collide, but I discovered the reason the first car had braked. A piece of tire was in the lane, and the car in front of me braked to lessen the impact, as there was no time (and probably no opportunity) to change lanes. That car ran over the tire, then I rolled over the same tire. I do not know if the car in front of me suffered damage, but I did. There is good news and bad news. Good news—no one was injured or killed, and the body shop I visited for an estimate repaired the plastic fenders so that the damage is highly undetectable. Bad news—I learned there was an eighty percent chance that my policy would be cancelled if I submitted a claim.
Do you, Dear Reader, see any irony here? A person pays a goodly sum of money for insurance coverage, only to be told that if the services that are being paid for are utilized, those services will terminate! Wonder how many cancellations it takes to win a toaster oven?
[Consequently, Dear Reader, beware! I also learned that many “Grade A” companies will not insure a home if the roof is older than ten years! Metal, rubber, shingle—makes no difference. Good thing you put on a roof with a thirty-year warranty, right? I wouldn’t count on it!]
On Monday evening, I made it to my co-worker’s viewing. Tuesday morning I obtained the estimate and insurance information discussed above, then set out that afternoon for my niece’s house once again. I arrived there in time to have dinner with both of my oldest brother’s daughters and their husbands, though misfortune again befell when my youngest niece’s husband became ill and they had to leave early. By now I’m beginning to wonder if I’m a jinx (or jinxed)!
Wednesday was spent in travel—from Cincinnati to Elyria, back to Knoxville, then home. I arrived in my driveway around 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning. I could have made it a little earlier, but I had to stop and take a power nap in the middle of all that driving. I did arrive on time to teach the three of eight students who attended my 6:00 p.m. class in Claiborne County that evening.
Thankfully, the rest of the week of fall break was rather uneventful. Thus far, the return to work has been much more relaxing than was fall break! How sad it is that work can be more soothing than a break!
More than ever, Dear Reader, I wish you peace, hope and joy! I leave you with the following tidbits of fun and folly.

Some people try to turn back their life's odometers. Not me.
I want people to know 'why' I look this way.
I've traveled a long, long way,
and some of the roads weren't paved.

If you can smile when things go wrong, you must have someone else in mind to blame.

The best way to get back on your feet is to miss two car payments.

Driver: "What am I supposed to do with this speeding ticket?"
Officer, "Keep it. When you collect four of them, you get a bicycle.”

When someone asks what I did over [fall break],
I squint and ask, "Why, what did you hear?"

When I ask for directions, please don't use words like "east."

When you die, God won't ask what kind of car you drove.
He'll ask how many people you drove who didn't have transportation.

“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” Hebrews 4:9 (KJV)