by
Lori R. Keeton
“What are you doing here?”
This is the question that immediately popped in my head when I saw two ducks wandering around my work parking lot.
It wasn’t until I put my car in reverse to leave that the cliché popped in my head- “like a duck out of water.”
In the days that followed, each time I saw them I found myself wondering the same things:
How did you get here?
Where do you belong?
Do you know how to get back home?
I think those ducks bothered me so much because I know exactly how it feels to be lost- really, really lost.
If I were required to provide a disclosure statement to people when they met me, “No sense of direction” would be at the top of the list.
Actually… NO SENSE OF DIRECTION (Closer)
NO SENSE OF DIRECTION (Closer)
NO SENSE OF DIRECTION (Truth)
I can go somewhere 100 times and still need GPS to find it. And the days before GPS were even worse. I cannot tell you the number of hours I spent pulled over on the side of some unmarked road with a map awkwardly resting in my lap trying to figure out which way was up (literally).
My mother has drawn more maps than Rand McNally. Her maps for me start with a dot labeled “House” that has a line running from it that literally goes from our door to my destination with landmarks I will recognize marked along the way- “Target,” “Mall,” etc.
Yes, it’s THAT bad.
Suffice to say, I understand all too well how those ducks must have felt in the parking lot.
Truth be told, even though most people don’t fall into the NO SENSE OF DIRECTION category like myself (thank God- who would give me directions if they did?), I suspect we all know what it feels like to be lost- in our careers, our relationships, our lives.
There are many things I like about Easter- a day off from work, an excuse to eat candy and the return of white pants to name a few.
But most of all, I love Easter because it answers so many of the hard questions…
How did you get here?
Where do you belong?
Do you know how to get back home?
It is a celebration of the ultimate map- one that even I can understand.
It is a reminder that we are never too lost to be found, and that there will always be someone waiting to lead us back to our water.
Happy Easter.
