Stuckey's buildings illustrate how people adapt to change

You remember Stuckey's? They were certainly a part of my childhood and, I expect, a part of yours as well. Long before every interstate exit was clogged with fast-food outlets, Stuckey's realized the potential for developing a chain of stores positioned to serve the cross-country driving public.

Stuckey's was so tuned in to what we wanted that it soon had outlets almost coast to coast. With signature eye-catching blue roofs, strategic placement at otherwise undeveloped expressway exits, clean restrooms, inexpensive and relatively fast (for that day and age) food, collections of local souvenirs and standards such as their famous (or infamous) pecan logs, Stuckey's became an almost-mandatory stop for any interstate traveler.

Stuckey's, of course, went the way of most such enterprises when McDonald's and other fast-food giants discovered just how lucrative such roadside trade could be. And, to be honest, with their faster service and drive-through windows, they won me away from Stuckey's as well.

Fighting boredom on a recent trip, I passed the time observing the various uses to which the old blue-roofed Stuckey's buildings were being put. And as my list of such alternative uses grew, I realized I was also somehow catching a glimpse of a truth about change and how we all choose to adapt - or not adapt - to it. (OK, I guess I was really bored.)

One of the first former Stuckey's I came across had been modified to become a semi-truck garage. A large door had been installed at one end and the peaked blue roof offered just enough height for the semi-tractor to comfortably fit inside. This, I realized, represented one response to change: If what we've been doing doesn't work anymore, try something radically different. For example, a better job, a better health and fitness routine, a better set of friends.

Not too far down the road, however, I found a second blue roof put to new use. Unfortunately, a garish sign now invited the traveler to stop in and view an extensive collection of "adult" books and videos. Somehow going from a family-oriented roadside store to a porn outlet didn't seem like a particularly positive response to change.

OK, then, maybe a second alternative is to do something radically different that isn't better than what we've been doing. I guess keeping an unsatisfactory job but intentionally doing it poorly, or chasing after every new and unproven exercise or diet fad, or finding a new but unhealthy set of friends would fit this category.

Later that day, I passed a former Stuckey's that had simply been abandoned. Its blue roof was faded, shingles missing. A window was broken. Grass grew long through the cracks in the asphalt parking lot.

Sometimes, it seemed to say, we respond to change by giving up. We give up on a career in defeat and despair. We stop exercising or watching what we eat. We isolate ourselves, spending more and more time alone and lonely.

Around dinner time, I was surprised to see a newly painted roadside sign that proclaimed the presence of a Stuckey's - a real Stuckey's - at the next exit. And, the sign added, Stuckey's now offered Dairy Queen "eats and treats."

Since one of my goals in life is to visit every Dairy Queen in North America, I stopped of course. And there, alongside the souvenirs and pecan logs was, as promised, a full service DQ.

The place was packed. It was far busier than any of the other roadside restaurants I'd patronized that long day. So here was my last lesson about change. Sometimes we can adapt to circumstances by keeping the best of what we have, adding a bit here, adjusting a bit there.

We might work with our boss to change our current job a bit, making it more interesting or satisfying. We could consult a personal trainer and adapt our fitness and nutrition routines to our current life. Or, what if we joined a new group at church or took an adult education class to meet new people.

We have no choice about change. We do have a choice about how we respond to it. I guess that's life according to Stuckey's.

• Dr. Ken Potts is on the staff of Samaritan Counseling Center in Naperville and Downers Grove. He is the author of "Mix Don't Blend, A Guide to Dating, Engagement and Remarriage With Children."