We’re in this together

It was a relatively normal Saturday.  We had two basketball games, a Hurts donut run (with a strike of good luck), and lunch.  Then Scott & I headed out for a quick afternoon meeting.  We had a few extra minutes on the way home, so Scott suggested we quickly drive through a nearby neighborhood being developed.  He emphasized quickly.

There are two important facts to note here, before we go on:

1. Scouting neighborhoods is way up there with my very favorite pastimes ~ I could stay all day to dream
2. I’ve been driving this one for over a year ~ I know my way around
3.  (Okay, there are 3)  I enjoy getting the jeep muddy

We pulled in.  

We were taking inventory of the lots with the most trees and nearest to green areas for the boys to play.  When the pavement ended, I just kept going.  I could feel us slip, but it didn’t concern me in the least.  It’s been dry here for days and it looked like pretty coarse, dry dirt.

We got the lay of the land and decided to head home.

I turned around to head out exactly the same way we came in, but noticed that the curb looked a little higher, going up, on the way out than it did, going down, on the way in.  I scanned the options and saw a big mound of “dirt” to the right side and without hesitation, I hit the gas and started up the mound.

Except it wasn’t dirt. 

It was quicksand, I tell you.  Well, maybe not quicksand, but wet, Texas mudclay.  (yes,that is a thing) The tires only spun.  I quickly threw it in 4WD without even so much as a doubt that we’d pop right out of there.

It didn’t quite work out that way.

I put it in park and we both emerged to assess the situation.  Only, I was on the “dry” side.  Scott, in his brand new white shoes and favorite jeans, was on the quicksand side.  While my brain is reeling with ideas of how we’ll wedge and leverage ourselves out of there, Scott’s brain is reeling with. . . let’s just say. . . different thoughts.

Thankfully we were near construction with loads of debris at our disposal.

We wedged scraps of wood, rebar, rocks, plastic. . . anything we could get our hands on, under those tires.  Scott pushed while I jammed it.  Mud was flying everywhere.  Smoke was bellowing from underneath.  I was laughing.

Scott was not.

He was becoming convinced we would need a tow.  After no less than 30 minutes of slipping, gunning, wedging and digging with wooden stakes, we finally freed ourselves.  Scott joined me in my laughter.  We both felt like we’d conquered a giant.

We did it together.  

Neither of us could have done it alone.  We each brought experience and ideas that eventually led to us getting free.  We needed to make it out and all we had was each other.  It turns out, we were exactly what we needed.

I’ve noticed that life is like that sometimes.

When you get to the end of your rope, if you look hard enough, you’ll find exactly what you need.  And It probably won’t look like a tow truck.  It will look more like digging deep for all the faith, experience, and wisdom you can muster.  It will look like dropping all the preconceived notions of how things should be.

It will look like needing people.

People who were on your side all along, even if sometimes it didn’t feel like it.  When you shift your mindset from winning, being right or proving yourself, to working toward a common goal together, it changes everything.

Maybe today, you need to stop trying to win.

Maybe you need to look someone in the eyes and say, “We’re in this together”.

And then, get in.

to more love,

Crystal