Ever wish you had that little compass Capt. Jack carries around? You know the one...it appears to be broken but in fact shows you the direction to where you want to go. That might have been handy for me over the past, oh say, 45 years! More on that thought in a bit.
Yesterday I got the joyous thrill of traveling to Seattle to get my car out of hock after shipment from Hawaii. I'm highly bonded to my car, and call it the "ugly pet" thanks to the many scars we have managed to give it over the past several years. It has pulled a jeep five miles out of the worst, rutted roads I've seen at South Point in Hawaii, Haley banged it up twice, I banged it with sugarcane when I found out I was divorced, it banged over lava rock 1 1/2 feet high to avoid getting run into, and it curb checks basically everything in sight. It's the prefect vehicle to take a journey in.
The trip started at 4 in the morning to get to the airport. I actually have no idea what time it is anymore because I haven't made the 4 hour time adjustment from Hawaii yet, so I just went with the flow. Because I am a cheapskate and had to book a last minute one-way ticket, the flight went from Salt Lake City through Phoenix, then to Seattle, then the drive from Washington, through Oregon, and finally to Idaho. Five states in 18 hours by myself...pretty cool.
Passed out the first flight, drank Diet Dr. Pepper the second, and arrived in Seattle wired and tired. Forty Five dollar cab ride later and I was reunited with the pet. Couple of different problems at that point: Getting out of the Seattle port (the Matson guy just said stay on the road. Sage advice there) and the pet's navigation system not agreeing to participate until we were on the highlighted route.
Eventually I did get on a route that pet said was OK, but I really didn't recognize it at all. I didn't remember that huge over-water causeway, but that road construction looks familiar, the lake looks familiar but the huge ski resort?!? Where did that come from! And how do you work the cruise control again? And what time is it? Car says 11:30, phone says 3:30, kindle says 2:30. Just by looking outside with the light, aspen trees and such, I'd say....October. Time to just trust the car.
Yup, I'd entered the "I have a 13 hour drive ahead and I'm already tired" stage. Funny things start playing on your mind like, how do they name towns. Yakima...some guy on Lewis and Clark's expedition says "I'm sea sick, stop the canoe or I'm gonna Yak-i-ma....(boot..didn't have time to get it out before he yakked). Signs are funny too. One said "Mt. Rainier straight ahead, Mt. Adams in the distance". I could only see one and it was distant. I was pretty sure however that Mt. Rainier blowing it's top would have been newsworthy even in Hawaii. Hadn't seen robins for a while, or deer roadkill, or sagebrush. It was really a beautiful drive with plenty to stay awake with while it was light.
Sunset revealed that without 3G in Eastern Oregon and Southern Idaho (really?), I was pretty well stuck with my own thoughts for seven hours in the darkness. I thought about the journey I'd been on and I started to pull ironic facts together. I was born and raised in Utah and live there now, we lived in Arizona for a year, Jeff went to school in Oregon, we lived in Idaho for 15 years, and the twilight zone kicker was that the flight leaving Phoenix in the gate next door at the exact same time was to Kona, Hi, my most recent beloved home.
All of those places have huge memories, pain and joy. Individually, each takes some time to process. All heaped together, it was overwhelming to remember and feel all of those emotions of an entire lifetime. Needless to say, a not night person was wide awake. I thought about all the failures I've had, and all of the pain that circumstances and choices have had on my family and friends throughout my life. I almost couldn't remember if I had done anything right.
I realize it is those thoughts exactly that ruin anywhere else the road leads us. However painful it is, lessons learned provide the navigational system. You input the data good or bad and keep on going. If it's good, you have to trust it. Cross roads are always a good place to input some new data of course, and pay attention to the signs.
Some things may not look familiar, but believe you just missed them the first time around. Learn, and next time you can pick up even finer details. Just like the beautiful things I saw during daylight, life can NEVER be measured without remembering the good and feeding on it. Use it as fuel so to speak and continue on the journey vowing to find and create more of that. The magical compass exists and it will take you exactly to where you believe you should be going.
Life is a highway and...I'm gonna ride it all life long. What an amazing journey it is. Now take the time to jam to one of my favorite songs, I promise it will make you smile. Later Mates!
Thanks Janet--very profound!
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