Start. Stop. Start Again.

A few weekends ago we had planned to travel to our hometown to visit with family for Kyle’s birthday. We planned on leaving Friday once Kyle was finished with work.

I felt lazy about packing that day. Often times when we go on little trips for the weekend, I am in charge of getting everything set and ready to go so that we can leave as soon as Kyle finishes with work.

I intermittently packed throughout the day. Gathering a bit here, a little there. I was confident that when the time came, desperation would force my hand and quicken the work. It was a poor idea. Procrastination tends to go that way.

We loaded up the car and started driving away,  we reached the end of the street when Kyle asked,

“Did we close the garage door?”
“I don’t know, you are driving…did you?”

We were too far away to see and so we turned around chuckling. It was totally closed. It always is.

So we turned back toward the highway,

“OH! I forgot my computer and camera!” I shouted. We were still close, so we turned around again.

We finally gassed up and were close to getting on the highway when we realized another thing had been forgotten. The chuckles were getting less and less encouraging and Max started to get worried that we were never going to get to Grandma’s house.

Finally, we were on the highway, a good ten minutes out when I had the panicking thought and questioned,

“You packed Max’s suitcase right?”
“His stuff is in your suitcase isn’t it?”

We didn’t want to turn around anymore but this suitcase had both Daniel’s and Max’s clothing inside. Tired from so many false starts, I propositioned just buying clothes at the thrift store to make due, but we turned around. Max started to cry. Kyle clenched the steering wheel in frustration. The whole scenario was ridiculous.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Kyle wasn’t amused at first but he has a hard time not smiling every 3 minutes so it was pretty easy to break his scowl.

I joked that this was just like a talk given by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, where at every wrong turn on a family trip they decided to just laugh.

“At least we aren’t going to end up in Nevada,” I teased.

I know how frustrating life can sometimes seem. Starting and stopping over and over again, for what purpose?

I believe we can choose to learn. I believe we can choose to remember. I believe we can decide to grow, to laugh, to seek the joy.

I don’t say this lightly. Oftentimes life is dark and bitter. Sadness and anger enshroud our spirits branching out to offer a dismal perspective of reality.

But there is joy to be found! This joy is all around us. It is within the hearts of our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers. It is within the beauty of this earth, the smile of a stranger, the love of our family. It is the love of our Father in Heaven and it is waiting to be seen.

This joy is deep and powerful. It diminishes darkness and causes us to have the power to move forward, even if it means turning around first.