by Denise Dykstra

“We always do the same things. We need to try something new,” my sister-in-law declared. She was correct, and I knew it. But also, my brain could not think of one new thing to try.

So my sister-in-law came up with a plan. I have long admired my sister-in-law’s declarations.

She was the one who had us shopping at The Grainery in Wayland, one of our new favorite stores to visit. She helps pull together room decor for me when I change furniture around. She is the deciding vote on Christmas trees before they are cut down. She is good at coming up with new things for us.

So when she suggested we watch a play at The Blue Gate in Shipshewana, I just knew to agree with her because she has proven she has a talent for great ideas.

My mom was ecstatic. She has been to a few of the plays at The Blue Gate but never brought us girls with her. Attending the play was going to require us to stay out way past our bedtime, and while that may make us sound old, I am just going to state it anyhow.

We had to figure out the logistics of how long we could get away from our houses because this week the men and boys are away, and it is up to us women folk to hold down the forts, as you may say. We are solely responsible for all chores around our homes, and we have suddenly realized that we have let children talk us into way too many pets.

My mom and my sister-in-law live on hobby farms to boot, so they have poultry and livestock to attend to as well. Both my sister-in-law and I had work the next morning and that was another thing for us to figure out.

But we said yes.

My mom quickly made reservations for us. She figured out a schedule for us, and was all too happy to drive my sister-in-law and me off on this slightly new adventure.

We headed down to our beloved town of Shipshewana, Ind., as we are often apt to do. But this time, we drove into town from a different direction. We visited a brand new store that we had never taken the time to visit. We never even stepped into one of our most favorite places because of the time crunch we were under and, admittedly, we still feel a bit unsettled about that.

We reasoned we’ll be back in Shipshewana soon enough and can visit then. We made it to our dinner reservations just before a big rush, and then we walked up the three flights of stairs to a part of the Blue Gate I had never been in.

I am convinced there are no bad viewing seats in this small, third floor theater at the Blue Gate Restaurant, and we easily settled in for the two and a half hour long musical. We had heard good things about this play, and we were catching it on its next to last night of production. We didn’t know what the story line was really, we had no high expectations as we had never been to a play like this, and we happily turned off our phones so no one could distract us during the show.

We were blown away.

There was singing and laughter and heart tugs and a great story line. I have songs still playing through my head today from the play we attended last night. The two and a half hours flew by.

I have been saying this phrase to myself, and others, a lot lately : “Change, even changes that are great, good things, is still hard.”

This doing something completely different was a pretty easy change to pull off. It required saying yes, having someone who knew just what to do (Thanks, Mom!), and a good amount of caffeine the next morning, but it was totally worth it. My mom, sister-in-law and I had the best time, and it is going to hang out in my memories as the singing, great time it was.

All we did was deviate slightly from our normal, well-worn paths, and we were delighted with our experience.

What is something you have done that was just a slight deviation from your own normal plans that made a delightful change?

Stumped at where to begin with a change? Here is my suggestion this hot summer week. Maybe try a different flavor ice cream at ( and this is going to be hard ) a different ice cream shop?

Tell me some of the new things you are doing!