A couple of weeks ago, I had a strange dream. I was in Chennai at my parent’s place and had to catch a bus to DC. That’s right! Washington DC! My aunt was given the task of booking an Uber for me to get to the bus station. She got distracted and ended up looking at photos on my phone. Ultimately, no Uber came for me. I realized it was too late to book one and ran outside to hail an auto. In the rain. In crazy Chennai traffic. One auto driver on the opposite side of the road saw me and was preparing to make a U-turn. As I waited, a random auto packed with people stopped in front of me. The driver started asking me random questions. I was getting irritated because I just wanted to get to the bus station on time. However, I realized that the bus would depart in 15 minutes and that I wouldn’t make it. The dream ended there.
A few days later I actually had to catch a bus to DC at 2:35 PM. Not from Chennai but North Carolina. It was raining cats and dogs. Ophelia was passing through NC and also parts of Virginia, including Washington DC. I booked the Uber really early (thanks to my dream) and ended up at the bus station 45 minutes early. 2:35 came and went and the bus never came. Calls to customer service were of no avail. No one could tell me accurately when the bus would arrive. After waiting for over an hour and 30 minutes, I headed back home extremely ticked off.
Eerily, my dream came true. I missed the bus to DC. Like this was a prophetic dream or something. But the next day I was on a train to DC. The sun was shining outside. It was a gorgeous, beautiful day. Almost as if the storm never happened. And me being me, I had to apply this experience to my life in general.
I’m at a point in my life where I feel like I missed the bus metaphorically. And believe me, I feel like I’ve missed several buses in my life. The career bus, because I stayed home with my kids for 10 years. I finally caught up with it several stations later but I feel like I missed some other bus along the way. And just when I feel like I’ve “fixed” one area of my life, another falls apart.
I just realized that there’s no destination.
In the process of trying to “fix” ourselves, we miss several buses. But maybe those buses weren’t meant for us. A new bus, train, or path will appear. We just have to trust in the process and the person who makes bus and train schedules for our lives.
Punctuate Life 