{"id":640,"date":"2026-08-26T21:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T21:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/?p=640"},"modified":"2026-09-30T21:31:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:31:24","slug":"a-detour-is-not-the-same-as-a-dead-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/a-detour-is-not-the-same-as-a-dead-end\/","title":{"rendered":"A Detour Is Not the Same as a Dead End"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes the road changes before the destination does.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n

Some Roads Change Without Warning<\/h2>\n\n

\n There are moments in life when you know you’re changing direction.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n You make the decision.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n You take the exit.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n You choose a different road.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n And then there are the other kind.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n The ones where the road changes before you ever had a chance to vote on it.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Cancer was that kind of turn for Sue and me.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n We had plans.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Retirement.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Travel.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Selling everything.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Living full-time in a motorhome.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Seeing the country while chasing 70 degrees.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n And then the road changed.\n <\/p>\n\n\n

\n

\n A detour is not the same thing as a dead end.<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n <\/blockquote>\n\n\n

I Haven’t Always Been Good at Remembering That<\/h2>\n\n

\n When something interrupts a plan you’ve spent years building,\n it can feel like the entire plan disappeared.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Sometimes disappointment talks in absolutes.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Never.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Over.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Gone.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n That’s especially easy when the detour isn’t small.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n A cancer diagnosis doesn’t simply move something from Tuesday to Thursday.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n It can rearrange months.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Years.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Priorities.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Expectations.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n It can make you look at a future you had already pictured and wonder\n whether you’re allowed to picture it anymore.\n <\/p>\n\n\n

But Changed Is Not the Same as Gone<\/h2>\n\n

\n That’s something I’ve had to learn slowly.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n A canceled trip can be rebooked.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n A retirement date can move.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n A route can be redrawn.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n A dream can change shape without losing its meaning.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n I’m not suggesting every loss gets replaced.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Some things really are lost.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Some doors really do close.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n But sometimes we’re so busy grieving the road we expected that we\n mistake a different route for the end of the journey.\n <\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n

\n Roadside Reflection\n <\/p>\n\n

\n \n Don’t confuse a changed route with a canceled destination.\n <\/strong>\n <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n

We’re Still Moving<\/h2>\n\n

\n Our map looks different today.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n There are medical appointments on it now.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Treatments.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Tests.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n Things we never imagined would become part of our travel planning.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n But there are still roads on that map too.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n There are still places we want to see.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n There are still adventures Sue and I haven’t had yet.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n The destination may take longer to reach than we originally thought.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n That’s okay.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n We’re still moving.\n <\/p>\n\n

\n And sometimes that is enough for today.\n <\/p>\n\n\n

\n And So\u2026The Adventure Continues.<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life has a way of changing the route without asking permission. I\u2019m learning that a detour can delay you, frustrate you, and completely rewrite the map without necessarily taking away the destination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-roadside-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":646,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions\/646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}