The Montreal Maze

It was a hot day in August and we were in Canada on vacation. The year was 2019. What I didn’t realize at the time was how tightly I would cling to those memories of that trip almost a year later to the day. 

This is a trip which would be impossible to take right now, as the borders between Canada and the US have been shut to vacationers. 

That day was hot and we were walking along the riverfront in Montreal. Still not ready for lunch and having three kids with us we needed something to entertain them. And then we saw it, a sign for SOS Labyrinth.  It was a maze - that sounds fun!  It looked pretty interesting, so we stepped into it slowly.  A friendly salesman talked us into taking our chances so we entered. 

Once inside the maze, we realized it was a big warehouse. One of the selling points was that the maze changed every week. Something that only seemed likely when I realized it was a maze put together by big tarps hanging from the ceiling and a few obstacles thrown in for good measure. 

While I can appreciate that a group of 5 people should probably split up during a maze, we didn’t want to lose a child so we stuck together. We walked around down aisle to aisle at first leisurely trying to find the checkpoints we were required to hit before the exit. 

What we did not realize was that there would be no map, no clues, and no directions. It was all new terrain and we had no idea how to navigate it. It was complete trial and error – there was no exit in sight. 

This leisurely walk eventually turned frantic as we couldn’t even find the first checkpoint. Arguments started about which way to go. And then a checkpoint magically appeared. So we were starting to feel some hope – we had gotten our stamp – we were through the first hurdle!

Back we went into the maze to find the remaining four checkpoints. At this point every move was turning frantic. It was hot, there was no air conditioning only big fans. We had one small bottle of water between five of us and the kids were getting upset. However, they were determined to complete the maze. 

Then came the tears, the five-year old had just had it. Knowing him so well, I knew if he didn’t finish and his siblings did, he would be angry. So we pressed on, finally after many tears, I picked him up, he rested on my shoulder and we carried on. I’m small in stature and had just gotten over a bout of food poisoning so the more time we took the heavier he became. 

All of this resulted in a lot of complaining and yet this persistent push forward, not wanting to give in.  We all started bickering with one another, “no, we should go this way”, “we haven’t gone this way yet”, and “yes we have”. We were in it together until the end, but we started turning on one another.  We were complaining, pointing fingers at one another, and not working as a team.

Finally, we did start to reach checkpoints more often and were onto something. Then almost out of the blue we found the exit. 

We were exhausted, hot and grumpy, but thrilled! At that point everyone celebrated by taking silly photos and then having a well-earned lunch in a cool location. This maze normally takes people one hour and fifteen minutes to complete and it took us over two hours. 

My guess is that because we stopped working together and started complaining we let our emotions get the best of us. Otherwise, we may have found the exit sooner. 

Friends, we are all stuck in this maze at the moment. And no matter how many checkpoints we think we are crossing off our list it is going to take much longer if we don’t work together. We have no map, few clues, and no directions. We can turn on each other by making snarky comments, judging each other, and arguing about the best way forward. Or we can communicate, cultivate hope, come together, and find the exit much faster. We all have our part to play and the choice is yours! 

I’d rather be taking silly pictures and celebrating with a winner’s lunch sooner - wouldn’t you?

~ Shelly