Unexpected Messing

We looked at the boys and told them to get dressed and hop in the car. The sun had not even woken up, yet, and the morning had that slight chill that comes with the dew. The boys, never eager to wake up, rubbed groggy eyes and stared at us.

“Why? It’s still dark out,” they would each question Char as she helped lay out their clothes.

“You’re father wants to go messing.”

We’d all pile into the car, swing through a McDonald’s for breakfast, and then hit I-95. Their curious minds perked up. Music played softly as Char and I talked about this and that. The boys stared out the windows with curious eyes, watching to see which way we would turn. As we took the off ramp from 95 to 92, they started bouncing in the backseat. There was only one reason their father would be going the way he was and they knew the day was going to be a fun adventure indeed. They started yelling, “Yes!” and high-fiving each other as they were now suddenly awake and wide eyed.

They knew they were going to Disney World.

My parents would do the same to me when I was the boys’ age. We’d hop in the car and as soon as we turned that corner, my sister and I were full of energy and ready to go. It wouldn’t matter what else had been scheduled that day or what work was piled up. It was time for a break from reality and to immerse ourselves in fantasy.

And that is what Disney World is to most of us, an escape from the worries that we dumped on the other side of the monorail. We were there to soak in the adventure and stuff ourselves on rides and Disney characters.

Everyone has their favorite place to escape to, that one place where you can forget the worries and stresses of the world and recharge your batteries. We also have those moments when we just have to drop everything and take those unexpected trips of Messing before we lose our stamina and minds. We all need a break from our in-box, To Do lists, and the bills that never seem to stop coming in the mail. We’ll talk to ourselves and tell us we can’t do it, we can’t just go off somewhere. There is simply too much to do.

There will always be too much to do. Work will always be there. Bills will never stop coming in. Schedules will continuously fill up. However, we have to make those moments happen and escape for moments of quietness. We need to clock out from the mundane day-to-day cycle of never-ending business meetings and take a refresher course in life. Don’t wait too long before you escape for a day or even a few hours. Once you do, you’ll feel the rewards immediately and you’ll come back with more energy to face those evil daily tasks that soak up our minutes. Make a point to escape soon. Plan it or don’t, but either way, wake up one morning and say, “This is the day for some unexpected Messing.”

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