BACKROAD DRIVES LIFT MY SPIRITS

Like waves in an ocean, my ups and downs though my daily living is neither really down or really up.  They have always been there, but at this stage of my life there seems to be more intenseness to them at times. Is it because there is no one there reminding me that it will get better and when they are good no one to share it with?  I don’t know.  I am still working on accepting this stage of my life and finding joy in it.  Living my life by accepting the changes in it is my goal.

It is getting better.  Really it is.  I have got a busy few weeks coming my way and this helps in my living out this journey with joy.  I am taking a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Alaska with some lady friends in my community.  A two week fly-drive-ship travel through the West Coast, Alaska and the Canadian Rockies.  If it measures up to my experience at the Grand Canyon, I’ll be left speechless…well maybe I will.  Speechless has never been one of my issues of life!

When I return I have a week then I have been asked to drive a friend to her the place where she thinks she wants to retire.  A 10 day trip of exploration and meeting other strong robust women who survive this world on their own.  I am looking forward to that too.  

Then after that, I want to go visit my brother and his family.  I have not seen him since Pat died and it is time I spend some time with him and say thank you for being a great brother.  He and his family are the only ones left on my side of the family.  We are the older generation!

I like these kinds of adventures.  I like the journey as much as the destination.  It is when I am my most content in the day.  There is something about the freedom of movement that fulfills me.  I can sit quiet, and just be.  But in movement there has always been a joy for me.  

My favorite thing to do, when the blues set in, is to get in my car and just drive.  Pick a back road and explore.  Stop and stare at the countryside so it gets planted in my memory about how lucky I am and how beautiful the area in which I live is.  

Driving down the highway of life has always represented my independence, from the first time i drove my 66 VW Bug down the highway as a young women, widows open, heater on, music loud—that sense of freedom and adventure filled me then as it does today when I head out on the road with no particular place to go.  

I really would like to drive cross country before I die, but age and knowing what can happen makes me have to find someone to be a travel partner.  I have not found that person yet, but I won’t give up trying.  

So, this Sunday, as I sit and watch the sun trying to peek through the clouds, I plan on taking one of those backroad drives with a friend, have dinner, and get through the day just enjoying whatever it may bring.  I can’t ask for anything more!