Road Trip; Sometimes flexibility is more important the actual destination

Above the Dam Broken Bow Lake Oklahoma

The spring break trip has come and gone with many lessons to share. My son and I

have grown in our relationship and that’s a good thing…no really even despite Dad’s growing pains.

Being the explorer that I am and having the need to live as large as I can, I planned an amazing trip across Oklahoma. I planned a trip to the northwest tip of the state. I wanted to show him Boiling Springs State Parkin Woodward, Alabaster Caverns, and the Great Salt Plains State Park and finally the Wichita National Wildlife Refuge, it was going to be amazing.

Unfortunately and fortunately that wasn’t the trip that happened. Instead of this great cross-country trip we went to Beavers’ Bend State Park in Oklahoma.  It’s a wonderful place to visit but not something new to me-not many options for new magnets.

 

Broken Bow Lake Oklahoma

First positive thing, we spent about a fifth of the money that we have traditionally spent. Second, I didn’t drag an unhappy teen on a trip that I was trying to make happen. Of all the aspects we pride ourselves on these trips is flexibility and this trip was no exception.

Our first night was fishing in the rain, amazing conversation and a bit more hydroplaning than I would have preferred. We didn’t catch anything, maybe a cold.

Had a pretty wonderful yet frugal dinner at Abendigos and did something you sometimes can’t manage with a teen, we talked.

The next day was cloudy but bright. We spend a large portion of the morning sleeping in. Fished a little and than picked up a friend of ours that had just moved there and spent the rest of the day with two teens and again, talked.

There is something beautiful about teens laughing, being silly and yet still talking about life, the good, the bad and the ugly. We hung out in a park, ate sweets, talked, had a wonderful dinner at the blue rooster and finally had an amazing deer run, one of my very fond teen memories with my family. We saw twelve deer and laughed like we were a bunch of juveniles, it was a really fun day.

The next day we fished before leaving the park and I learned more about my son and myself. I have come to a conclusion-we are both growing but it’s a good healthy thing even if I haven’t been on board in the past, it’s working out just fine.

He drove most of the way home and again we learned-the dance you do on the highway with trucks and other cars much like the parent-child relationship. You pick up speed, you get too close, you slow down, and it’s an intricate dance as each of you adjust-not too fast, not too slow, not too close and not too distant.

Unfortunately he has to find his own speed and his own comfort and my job is to allow him the highway and open space to become the man he will be and at this time I’m excited for the road ahead. A bit of freedom, a bit of flexibility and this trip through life I think is going to be worth writing about…. next stop anywhere, stay tuned.