We’re still in Oregon. Winter and rainy. On the way up, the wind was so strong a tree fell across the road, completely blocking progress in both directions. It had just happened, three cars ahead of us. Everybody stopped and waited. “For what?” I thought, and inched on.<\/p>\n
A high-axle 4-wheel drive truck came over from the other side. I thought about trying same, but knew our van would never make it. What about the shoulder? I could conceivably go off the road, around the tree, and even make a path for others. What could I do but try?<\/p>\n
But, alas, the mulchy gutter had only looked solid. Half way through we were bottomed out to the frame, the wheels just spinning in the mud.<\/p>\n
I was stuck.<\/p>\n
“Stuck,” an English word I’m told they’ve adopted in the Papua New Guinea tribe I just visited. They just like the sound, brief and strong, soft at the beginning, hard-edged at the end. So final.<\/p>\n
But it seldom is. Almost always it’s only temporary. Something’s been tried, it’s not working, you’re stymied for a moment or an hour, or maybe much longer. But if you’re stuck and you know it, there will be a way.<\/p>\n
In the end, at the tree-fallen road, a man appeared with a chain saw. By then there was a long line of cars in both directions. Some people, now out of their cars, gawked. The woodsman would clear a path . . . but, I realized, not for me, still off in the ditch.<\/p>\n
Finally I called out, “Hey, come help push us out of this.” And they did, seemingly surprised that they could. A few moments later we drove free, in a very mud-splattered car, waving behind our thanks.<\/p>\n
After that we had the whole road to ourselves for many miles.<\/p>\n
There have been other times I’ve been stuck, though not that many, in spite of what Anne says.<\/p>\n
There was the time, during my high school years, driving alone in my parents’ station wagon, in territory I didn’t belong, and found myself hopelessly bogged down in a sand lot. But it was Easter week, and a whole gang of student carousers saw my plight, gathered around and with a big laugh, lifted that behemoth Plymouth right off the ground and back out to the street. Incredible.<\/p>\n
There’s always a solution.<\/p>\n
Anne said, “You’ve got more ‘getting stuck’ stories than anyone I know.”<\/p>\n
I’m not sure that’s true, but instead of going on the defensive I told her I’d take it as a compliment.<\/p>\n
“At least I’m forward moving.”<\/p>\n
One can’t always sit and wait, wringing hands and wondering. You try things. You sometimes get stuck, but not always.<\/p>\n
And even when you do, there’s usually someone to help.<\/p>\n
So move. There’s always a way through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Whether its in art or writing, thinking or driving, it sometimes happens. But help always comes; keep moving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8455"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10680,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8455\/revisions\/10680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}