Stories of the Road

The day I departed Surfside Beach, SC for Lexington, VA, I had only 358 miles on my agenda and that would take six hours and 24 minutes without stops. I hit the road with nothing on my playlist, but found The Year of Magical Thinking, a 90-minute free story on Audible. It slowly unfolded to reveal and older woman whose husband passes away and daughter struggles with her health at the same time. 

Heavy, dark clouds overshadowed my journey as I listened to this dark tale, but pockets of brilliant blue sky kept peeking out, offering hope of a brighter future. By 11:30am, the sun had begun to dominate the sky and the clouds were fewer and farther between, leaving plenty of blue sky. I had picked up my next free 90-minute Audible called Stories of a Lifetime with Dan Rather. 

Around 11:30am, I crossed into North Carolina and the roads finally gave way from rural highways to a four-lane expressway. I really enjoyed Dan Rather's stories, but felt sadness for him when he discussed needing to push down his own emotions about the events he was covering, like the Civil Rights Movement, JFK's assassination, or 9-11. 

My friend and I spent a lot of time in Myrtle Beach discussing processing feelings and old emotional trauma. She told me that it only takes 90 seconds of feeling your feelings to release bottled up emotions, and that blows me away. I hope he has started to release some of that baggage. Dan Rather wrapped up his 90 minutes with a call to arms:

1. What can I do today to help another person?
2. What can I do today to help my community?

By afternoon I was in the process of passing a pop-up camper in tow. It was singing to me as I approached from behind on the left and my eyes were drawn to a bright, but dingy, yellow tension strap wrapped around the camper. No sooner than I noticed it and realized it must be what was singing to me, the strap came loose. I stepped on my gas quickly to get ahead and as I looked into the rearview mirror, I could see the yellow strap along the side of the road. 

I couldn't help but wonder if the occupants of the truck had even noticed this event that my senses had drawn me into moments before it even happened. I had a few instances on this trip where for some reason I was drawn to something before I knew why. 

With over half my drive under my belt, I discovered The Worthy Project and dove in. Who can't use a little help developing their worthiness? I only got through half of it, so I'll have to pick up on that story a little later. I crossed into Virginia behind a red jeep with the top down and a tire cover on the back declaring "Life is good." As I neared closer to Lexington, the roads became much more windy and hilly. After an impromptu stop at an antique store about an hour out of town and a quick change in a gas station bathroom, I was ready to join my Lexington hosts at Southern Inn for happy hour.

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