It’s like waking up and realizing you’ve been asleep at the wheel – for miles. You find yourself on a one-way road, a road you’re only now beginning to see clearly.  Maybe you missed a turn somewhere.  Maybe, if you’d been paying attention, you’d be headed in a different direction, on a different road, in a different car even. 

Since you can’t do a U-turn on a one-way road, all you can do now is drive.  The only way is forward.  The turns not taken are irrelevant now.  Now, all that matters is making the rest of the journey count. 

So, you blink, rub the sleep from your eyes, and grip the wheel with renewed purpose.  Since the past is in your rearview mirror – and you can’t alter it – the right road is now the one you’re on, the one that’s leading you forward.  The right destination is waiting for you ahead – so you drive.  You learn the lessons you need to learn, you grow, and you keep going.  Grief mingles with hope.  Regret gives way to resolve.  And peace settles in place of despair.  And you drive on.

You drive on – through storms, under stars, past detours and distractions, in the gentle waking light of a new day.

And you drive on.