Another in a series of posts I wrote while vacationing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina:

Last night, after a 15 hour journey, Matt and I finally arrived on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where a long, sandy beach awaited us. To reach the house where we would stay, we had to drive 7 miles in deep sand, at 3am on a moonless night. Fortunately, Matt lived in Africa for three years, during which he learned much about driving across the Sahara. As we ventured into the deeply grooved sand, Matt flipped on the four wheel drive and gunned the engine.

So there we were, four-wheelin’ like Thelma and Louise as the car swerved and veered and dipped across the dunes. All I could think was “We’re gonna make poor Siena an orphan,” but Matt didn’t flinch. Instead, he said, “It’s like driving in snow. You just can’t hesitate.” So he plundered ahead as the SUV waded seemingly waist-deep in sand through the indigo night.

After a treacherous start, during which I was certain we would be stranded on the beach all night, Matt put pedal to the metal, and suddenly we were cruising at about 30 miles per hour, careening over the sand like a hydroplane. I clutched the door handle of the passenger seat and braced myself against the dash, white-knuckled and stiff. But as I looked over at my usually-mellow husband, I saw in his eye a flash of the rodeo cowboy, riding the bucking bronco, and I almost yelled “Yee haw!”

The longer we drove, as the car dug wavy tracks across the beach, the more Matt relaxed. With no street lights and not a wink of moon, we couldn’t see the mile markers we needed to find in order to orient us, much less the terrain we drove recklessly across. But Matt forged forth. I saw his wide grin, as we bumped our way to our destination. “You just have to surrender to the sand,” he said, and I felt my death grip relax. “The more you fight it, the more you struggle. But if you just let go, everything works out just fine.”

I couldn’t help but think that our four wheelin’ experience was a metaphor for life. How often do we face difficult struggles with resistance, hesitation, and intense efforting, when what would serve us best is to simply surrender to the experience, to go with the flow of the swerves and veers and bumps of life? How much suffering do we create by getting bogged down in the sand and spinning our wheels?

So this is my sand-inspired resolution- that I will do my best to go with the flow, to just ride the waves and really surrender to the experience, to live life like a bucking bronco, and to trust that everything will be okay.

Surrendering to the sand,

Lissa
 

The Outer Banks Posse