Day of Hope #133 - Saturday January 13, 2024
Goal: Embrace the detour, trust the direction I'm heading, and create something wonderful anyway
Quote: “Sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn't mean to take.” – Angela N. Blount
This Day of Hope started with a detour.
I was supposed to be in Utah celebrating my dad's 80th birthday. My granddaughter shares his January 14th birthday, so we had planned to celebrate both of them together. Mother Nature had other plans. Utah was getting hammered with snow, and Idaho wasn't doing much better. We had a major snowstorm of our own, including six inches in one day. That’s a lot for Boise.
After looking at the conditions, I decided driving to Utah wasn't worth the risk. My dad agreed. I was disappointed, but sometimes a course correction isn't optional. Sometimes the safest road is the one you choose not to take.
So, we now had a little girl to surprise. My daughter and I came up with a backup plan, and it turned out to be a pretty great one.
Starting the Year With Hopes Highways
I began my Day of Hope by sleeping in and getting some much-needed rest. Then I spent part of the day working on my new company Hopes Highways.
I updated my website, finalized some of my goals for the coming year, and worked on materials for something new I was trying, a series of vision board classes. I was creating a PDF to help the women prepare before they came to make their boards.
I loved thinking about what I wanted for the year ahead while also creating something that could help other women think about what they wanted for theirs.
By around 4:00 p.m., though, it was time to put the business away. We had a birthday girl to surprise.
The Birthday Detour
Instead of driving to Utah, I booked a two-bedroom suite at TownePlace Suites near the movie theater in Boise. The suite had two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a great living area. Perfect for what my daughter and I had planned:
A Surprise Girls' Spa Night
We arrived early and transformed the room. We brought appetizers, food, drinks, and enough spa supplies to make our hotel room look like we had opened a small wellness center.
We created a foot station. A hand station. Face masks. Foot masks. Paraffin wax. We were ready. When my granddaughter arrived, she was completely surprised. And it was wonderful.
Outside, the snow kept coming down. Inside, the three of us were warm, laughing, eating, pampering ourselves, and celebrating together. We eventually made our way downstairs to the pool and hot tub and continued our girls' night.
The next morning, there was plenty of snow to clean off the car. None of us really wanted to leave, but we had another family birthday lunch waiting for us.
My original plan for January 13th hadn't happened at all. And yet somehow, it had still become exactly the kind of day I needed. Another successful Day of Hope, with two of my favorite girls beside me.
Letting My Heart Lead
I also had two Reiki sessions this month. I was going through a lot personally, and the messages from those sessions gave me something to reflect on. The first centered around my heart.
The message was that my heart wasn't experiencing the same jolts it once had. Healing was still happening, and certain memories could still affect me, but there was more balance and certainty now.
One particular idea stayed with me: My heart was becoming the leader of the pack. Instead of constantly fighting against myself, I was learning to work in sync with myself.
The second session continued with that theme, but this time the image was of wings. My heart and my wings were growing together. And wings, I was reminded, don't only stretch outward. They also grow upward.
For me, that represented growth, exploration, and allowing the work I was doing to reach beyond my own life. That felt especially meaningful as Hopes Highways continued growing.
A Day of Hope had started as something I desperately needed for myself. Now I was beginning to see more ways it might touch other people's lives too.
Bonus: My First Large Vision Board Classes
Later in the month, those vision board classes I had been preparing for actually happened. And they went great! This was the first time I had offered vision board classes to larger groups. I held several sessions throughout the weekend at the Silver Cloud Retreat clubhouse. I loved it.
Of course, creating the boards was fun. But my favorite part was watching the women. I could see their faces light up as they chose pictures, words, dreams, and goals for their boards.
They weren't just cutting pictures out of magazines. They were imagining possibilities. They were looking forward. They were creating something that represented the lives they wanted to build. And I got to watch hope appear right in front of me.
Another Unexpected Road
As if January hadn't already brought enough surprises, something else happened this month. I met a movie producer. I connected with Grant Osman from Wiser Wolves Production Co. about creating a short film connected to my A Day of Hope book.
A movie? Seriously? A year earlier, I was working toward getting my book published. Now we were talking about creating a short film around its message. I didn't know exactly where that road would lead yet. But I certainly wanted to find out.
Stay tuned.
The Detour Was Still Part of the Journey
Looking back, it's funny that my first Day of Hope of 2024 began with plans falling apart. I couldn't control the snow. I couldn't safely make the drive I had planned. I couldn't make January 13th look the way I had pictured it.
But I could decide what happened next. I could make a course correction. Instead of spending the day frustrated about what I couldn't do, I worked on my dreams, celebrated my granddaughter, spent meaningful time with my girls, and created a completely different memory.
And the rest of January seemed to carry that same message. Vision board classes, Hopes Highways, Healing, and Growth.
And even a conversation about turning A Day of Hope into a short film. None of those roads looked exactly like the ones I had imagined years earlier. Maybe they weren't supposed to. After all, a detour doesn't necessarily mean you're headed in the wrong direction. Sometimes it's simply another road taking you where you need to go.
My Lesson of Hope: When life changes your plans, don't automatically assume the day, or the dream, is ruined. Sometimes you need to make a course correction, choose a safer road, or create an entirely new plan. You may not control the detour, but you can decide what you do with it. Sometimes the unexpected route creates a memory, an opportunity, or a little more hope than the original plan ever could have.
