Looking for a roadmap.

I'm stuck.

I hopped in my car, packed up my family, drove down the roads I drive on everyday, aimed for the same familiar places we are used to haunting. And wouldn't you know it ... we're lost.

The roads have been under construction quite a bit for the last three years so we have become very adept at finding new routes ... sometimes we find ways to get to our favorite places with a little extra planning. Sometimes the roads are just closed and we have to find new places to go.

At the end of July, however, I came home from two back-to-back family vacations and found out that there was apparently an earthquake or something.

Almost none of the roads are open now ... and no one can tell me what happened. Oddest thing.

I keep hoping that construction will be done soon, but the powers that be have no idea how long it will take. I lean on friends and family and thankfully we can get to our have-to's and some of our want-to's. We're finding new ways to bring the joy back ... a market we hadn't found before, a library that can come to us even if we can't get to them.

I just don't like driving around too long without knowing where I am going ... I'm afraid of running out of gas.

So if you happen to be talking to the folks who build the roads, tell them I understand it takes time and I know it is completely unpredictable ... just drop me a map once in a while and I promise I won't complain.