managing expectations

We just returned from a 2 day trip up to middle Nevada. The purpose of the trip was to ride the Nevada Railroad train called the "Star Gazer." It was advertised as "seeing the stars like you have never seen them before." We were excited. More on that later.

As a side trip we decided to first visit Great Basin National Park...a "glorious expanse of mountains and desert." When we talked with the park ranger, she informed us the mountain view road that is the "treasure" of the park was being regraveled and would not be open for a few hours. Even if we chose to go, the new gravel might slow the drive significantly...and though the views were lovely, some of the overlooks were better than others. As we asked questions and tried to read between the lines of what she was telling us, she said she was trying to "manage our expectations." After further consideration and watching and listening to other visitor's questions, it became clear that this national park is a "glorious" place for hikers, bikers, motorcyclists, and off road enthusiasts. Not so much for us!

We then drove to the town of Ely where the Star Gazer train resides. Our expectations were high. We expected a rural sky in the wide open spaces where we would see the night sky absolutely covered in stars. Not so much! A beautiful moon outshined the Milky Way and though there were some lovely stars, the scene in no way matched the brilliant starlit skies over Galway Bay in Ireland, western Montana or Vermont skies ---skies we have had the blessed miracle to enjoy. As Ranger Sandra had said we needed to "manage our expectations" about this train ride that we had so been looking forward to.

So we laughed about the reality. We took great pleasure in the drives up and back---wide open spaces, beautiful rock formations, dry river beds that clearly formed some of the spectacular scenery and made us wonder how and what happened to that river. We talked about the need to "manage our expectations" in so many areas of our lives---what we expect of ourselves and each other, what we expect of our children, what we expect of our decision to live here in Las Vegas, what we expect of our church community.

Where in your life might you need to "manage your expectations?"--I pray it will lead you to less stress, more laughter.

Blessings-Penny