Unintended Invitations

What is an invitation? — a mailed card, a text from a friend, or a yearly ask to be at Thanksgiving. There are also the quiet invitations inside us to consider as well — those gentle nudges toward new thoughts, small curiosities that pull at our attention. There is the aspect of the inviter the one that brings people together for celebrations, dinners, fires, hikes, games and let’s face it, obligatory scenarios. We switch on and off from being the instigator or the receiver of invitations.

My new year’s resolution was to invite more. Plan more. Engage more. It’s May 7th and I haven’t had a dinner party yet. I finally will host a book club meeting, but that was kind of obligatory. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy having the club over, but it’s sort of my turn.

Here’s where I’m going with this. I’m coming to realize that I’m someone who lives more day to day rather than look ahead and fill the calendar. I go on vacation without making dinner reservations and filling up the days with excursions. I’d rather talk to locals and explore than spend hours researching where to go. I follow my gut. How does that look? Let me tell you a quick story

A few years back my husband and I went on a trip with friends to Idaho. We had just arrived in Salt Lake and rented a van and headed to our destination. I was one of the two on the rental agreement who could drive the van. When it was my turn behind the wheel, I suddenly decided to pull off the main highway out of curiosity or quite frankly a strong invitation to follow a “lead”. To our surprise and delight, we came upon a local spot of waterfalls that fell into the Snake River. Here we experienced nature in all her glory. We became kids exploring the waterfalls and exploding with excitement and awe for what we had found.

I’m sure that every single person has experienced these moments in life. It’s magical. I yearn for these moments daily, the unintended invitations. They keep me tethered to the present, which could arguably be the one invitation we all have.

This moment goes down as one of the most joyous!