Oh for the love of Wegmans

I'm usually a very prepared driver. By that I mean that I rarely take car trips to places I've never been without a "dry run". I always carry my cell phone, and prior to owning a GPS, I always would get a map from MapQuest to lead me to my destination.

Last week I decided to drive to a grocery store named Wegmans which, according to their website, was about 30 miles from my house. I only buy a few special items from that store because their prices are a little high for my liking. We go there basically for Christopher. They have indoor trains that ride up near the ceilings that mesmerize him and they have a Kids Club which is basically an in-house playground for kids. You sign them in and can leave your child in this supervised area for up to 2 hours (as long as you are in the store). He loves it in there and I can shop without interruptions so we are both happy.

I was planning to hit Wegmans early in the day, but Christopher was enjoying a lazy day, just lounging around in his pajamas. So, by 3:00 I figured he just didn't want to go to Wegmans and that was fine with me since it was raining and pretty dreary outside. Well, at 3:30, guess who comes dashing into the living fully clothed announcing he was ready to go to Wegmans? So, I figured we'd make the quick trip over there. I grabbed my purse and out the door we went. Since I had a general idea of where this Wegmans was, I didn't pull out my Mapquest or GPS right away. I drove about 20 minutes or so and then decided to check my map. I grabbed the papers from my purse only to find no Mapquest... and no cell phone! The two deadly sins in my book. At least I had my GPS so I pulled it out and put in a search for Wegmans. Bingo.. it pulls up a Wegmans on Route 206 which is the location the Wegmans website had given me. '

I figured the cell phone wouldn't be a big deal. Steve was working late and I'd be home before he even knew that I was gone. As is typical when taking late afternoon trips, Chris fell asleep and after a while I realized I was driving pretty far... very far... is this trip ever going to end? It was only supposed to be 30 miles... What's that up ahead?? A sign for Princeton, NJ? Are you kidding me?? The GPS took me to another Wegmans' much further away from my original destination. Between the traffic and lousy weather it took me an hour and a half just to get there. I really just wanted to turn the car around and go home, but I had to use the restroom by this time and I'm sure that Chris would need to as well. I was exhausted and in no mood to shop when I pulled into the parking lot. We got out, I put him in the Kids Club and I grabbed the few things I needed. I was really done in 5 minutes but didn't have the heart to pull him out so quickly so I just wandered around for another 40 minutes. When I went to check out, I found the Wegman's Mapquest directions in my purse.. .that figures.

Facing the long drive home, I braced myself. If I had my cell phone, I would have either called my father-in-law and crashed at his home since I was already more than half way to his house, or would have called Sue to tell her I was coming over to crash for a bit before driving back in that lousy weather. But, not having those options, I drove home. I think I was most annoyed about not having my cell phone. I knew Steve was working late so he probably didn't even realize that I had been gone for several hours. Boy was I wrong. As soon as I walked in the house, my cell phone rang. I grabbed it off the counter and it was my sister-in-law. Apparently, my husband was really worried. I had 9 messages on my cell phone, 4 messages on the house phone and 1 email that I found later. He called our neighbor to check to see if my car was home - he was really fearful that something was wrong. I felt bad he was so worried.

I told Steve a few days after this event, that I really feel that God was protecting me from something. I had the directions to the closer Wegmans in my purse the whole time and I honestly went through each piece of paper and didn't see it. I really believe that God has a way of closing our eyes to things. I may never know why he diverted me to Princeton, but I thanked him the whole way for safety and protection. I know his ways are better than mine and I'll always leave it at that!