I’m sleeping in a bed tonight. This wouldn’t normally be a big deal, but it’s the first time it’s happened in a week. I have tested out five different couches in the past six nights. In the past two weeks I have driven 1,953.5 miles, mostly alone, and I have several more hours on the road tomorrow.
In the past three weeks I have been in eleven different states and slept in ten different homes.
And I love it.
Over and over again on this trip I just have to stop and think about how much I love my life. I feel like I’m living the dream. Maybe it’s all the songs about wanderlust I sang with my friends in college, or maybe it’s the fact that this is probably the closest I will ever be to being a rock star on a cross-country tour, but I would like to imagine my joy and contentment are springing from some more genuine sources.
I love driving hours to get to see people I love, having the freedom and flexibility to just get in the car and go. I love calling friends up when I’m 20 miles away from their exit and asking if they’re home for a hug and ten minutes of talking. I love discovering new restaurants with people in their hometowns, or building fires and staring at the stars late at night. I love waking up early to eat breakfast with their kids before school, or staying up late to snack on McDonald’s and talk about our dreams.
I love having to ask for help or a place to stay, because it reminds me that I don’t have to do life alone. I love getting stuck in traffic, because it reminds me that the lesson of patience is more valuable than the time I am losing. I love having to keep my possessions confined to the trunk of a car, because it reminds me how small things can bring great joy. I love being exhausted, because it reminds me of how full the last few weeks have been.
In all the crazy change, hours on the road, and beautiful faces, what I love most is the constant. The hands that I know crafted every sunrise and sunset I get to witness. The quiet presence sitting in the passenger seat of my car, chuckling at me as I get excited about all the wonderful-ness of life. The companion that walks with me so I don’t have to go into a room alone, even when it is full of strangers.
I wish I had the words to fully express how marvelous the last few weeks have been. I feel so overwhelmingly blessed and loved. I have been cared for so well by friends both new and old, and there hasn’t been a single morning where I woke up and dreaded what was ahead of me that day.
I feel like no one deserves to love life as much as I do right now. It’s such a gift from the hand of the Father as I prepare to take a big plunge in just a few days.
To those along the way, to the world, to the universe, to the Creator, there seem to be no other words to be said:
Thank you.