Last night I should have been miserable.

Following my matinee I was on my trek from Hartford, CT back into NYC to spend my day off back home. I was pretty invested in getting home really quickly because the remainder of the Sunday evening would be my only time to spend with Patrick. He was in tech rehearsal for Hunchback of Notre Dame which will be opening at The Paper Mill Playhouse, so he was completely tied up for my Monday day off and Tuesday before I’d have to hop back in the car to head back to Hartford for my Tuesday evening show.

Of all evenings for the commute to be saddled with obstacles, darn it. There was snow last night, a lot of it, and it put a real burden on the drive. What is normally a two hour jaunt became a near seven hour treacherous journey that had me terrified for my safety on numerous occasions as I saw cars sliding off the side of the highway right in front of me. And a few times I drove right past collisions and accidents that completely ruined those people’s cars, not to mention their day.

But here was all the good . . . Though I am normally by myself for this weekly drive, I had a friend in the car with me. Not only was he marvelous company whose conversation was a welcome distraction from my fear and worry, he was able to help navigate us through all the detours we had to take as we were forced off highways and onto routes we didn’t know. No doubt, I would have been paralyzed trying to decide how to get back to the city via surface roads by myself.

And even better, we arrived safe and sound. I’ll take some credit for that, I’m a good driver. But I couldn’t help but feel protected by some other force. And at the very least, I felt incredibly lucky.

And even better than all that . . . I eventually landed in the arms of my dear husband who patiently waited for my arrival. The sweetest blessing of all was knowing he was there waiting for me.

So though I was really bummed to miss spending a romantic evening with Patrick, an evening we had anticipated all week, I fell asleep with a profound sense of gratitude and peace.

Thank you, Universe.