Take a New Route Tuesday.
Today, I am trying something new. 
A new route to better health and mental wellness. 
Online counseling. 
This may seem like a foreign concept.  Maybe even the idea of counseling is scary. 
But I am comfortable with using video chatting for work, so I am going to give this a try. 
In my work, I have made a shift from nutrition to human development.  A very comfortable place to land, but it comes with some new sets of challenges. 
I find that I have an empathetic personality, continually pouring out, but not taking adequate time to fill my cup. 
So, this new route is for ME.  Some time and space to breathe. 
I am hopeful.
I am grateful.
I will enJOY.

Take a New Route Tuesday

Today I am actually traveling a familiar route. Today is what we call in Extension Holy Tuesday, or faculty meeting day. We all travel to our central regional location to have our meetings and administrative updates. For me that means driving a familiar route to Clinton, Missouri. 

We had some pretty big storms move through Missouri last night. As I drove through Cross Timbers I began to see for about a mile stretch big uprooted trees lying on their side, branches down everywhere, large trees broken completely in half. 

I am amazed at the amount of damage. 

As I drive further down the road, everything is dry.The sun is shining. No leaf clumps scattered on the road, no broken branches, no groups of huddled folks beside 4-wheel drive pickups. 

I begin to think about how on this Tuesday, the route is so different for folks living just 10 miles apart. 

Storms have a funny way of doing that.  Here in Missouri we are well aware of the destruction a single path from a tornado or straight line winds can make. 

So my heart goes out to the people in Wheatland and Cross Timbers as they clean up the mess.  Their  route is most definitely quite diverted today. But just as I saw several miles back; folks come together, messes are cleaned up, and the human spirit ultimately finds a way to enJOY.

Take new route Tuesday. 

This morning at 8 o’clock as I’m ready to leave to head to Columbia for our Youth and Families Spring conference, my youngest daughter calls to tell me she is coming back home because the road is closed. Mind you she has a phone with GPS, and there are multiple routes to get from our house to school, but they are routes she’s not familiar with and she is only a few months in as a new driver. Needless to say, I helped her take a new route. She followed in her car as we wound our way on back roads avoiding the closed road on our way to the high school.  

Watching the clock tick, I could feel my shoulders tense knowing that I would be late for my meeting. But I take a deep breath and realize sometimes in life there unexpected curveballs, or road closings, that get in the way of the best laid plan. We are then faced with a choice to let these curveballs make our day miserable or give us an opportunity to look for a new route.

Today I am choosing the new route.

enJOY!

Take a new route Tuesday 

This morning I left my house early to make a 9 o’clock meeting which is two hours away heading north. I’m driving into fog and drizzle. And the thought weighs heavily on my mind that I must drive two hours south to make it to the class at 6 o’clock this evening that class is another two hours from my house. 

So essentially I making a big triangle in mid Missouri today. Sometimes I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into with the amount of travel that comes with Extension work. 

But then I remind myself that I’m not alone. So many others across the state are doing the same thing, getting behind the wheel of the car, windshield time, in order to make destinations that will end up serving the citizens of Missouri.

I am grateful for this job and this opportunity even on those days when 300 miles is Not a stretch.

So today, I will try to practice what I preach and look for the possibility... to enJOY!

Take a new route Tuesday

This week I am traveling to Saint Genevieve for a leadership meeting all week. I am definitely taking a new route. I have only been to Saint Genevieve one time before. And I wasn’t driving. Thus I wasn’t paying much attention. 

But this morning as I drive I am struck by the beauty of the landscape. Maybe it’s because we had such a long gray winter or maybe it’s because we just had a beautiful Easter weekend, but nevertheless I turned off the music and drive in silence giving myself plenty of opportunity to take it in. The colors are amazing. Bright fuchsia of the redbud trees, stark white of the dogwoods, pops of yellow daffodils and other flowers scattered on the ground, and the entire hillside blanketed in every color of green imaginable. 

I love Missouri and the opportunity to experience different seasons. 

Take some time today and walk outside, or take a drive. 

Soak in the spring because before we know it the heat of summer will be on us. 

Enjoy!

I just made a new Voki. See it here:

I just made a new Voki. See it here:

I just made a new Voki. See it here:

I just made a new Voki. See it here: