After 2 attempts, I left North Carolina this morning. The first reason I had to return to the house
was because I had forgotten the cookies I had baked for CCE # 3! Now, I understand how one of the gals forgot to
bring hers last year. I’m glad I
remembered to go back to the house and remove them from the freezer because I
would have never lived it down that I came to the CCE in PA all the way from NC
without the cookies!
The second reason I had to return to the house was because I
had forgotten Dusty Shamrock’s medicine.
Not only did I forget to give him his morning pill but I forgot to bring
his medicine kit! Oops! One look at his floofy little face staring up
at me from the passenger seat reminded me to run back to the house and get the
meds.
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| Sleepy Dusty Shamrock blends right in with his travel bed! |
These are the kind of trips I love to make…the ones where I
brought minimal schoolwork with me to work on because I just know that every
second is going to be spent with loved ones near and far…I’m going to be up
here, in PA, MD, or DE for about 12 days and can’t wait to get caught up with
family and friends. The long drive
(today’s lasted about 8 hours due to returning to the house twice, getting
gas twice, 1 missed turn, 1 U-turn, a stop for my first Peppermint Mocha, and minor rush hour traffic) went by quick for me.
Recurring sights I noticed in my trek from NC up to PA today
were all the flags that were flown at half mast for Newtown at all the schools
I passed…it’s hard to believe it’s only been 4 days since the horrible
shootings of Friday morning. Another
visual I encountered time and again across state lines and along the highway
miles was a much more pleasing one…RAINBOWS!!!
As I drove in and out of rain, I saw five different rainbows! I couldn’t help but think how we can’t
have the rainbows without the storms.
In thinking about the pain the families in CT are going through right
now, they will laugh again someday. They
will love again and they will experience feelings of happiness someday. Hope is a beautiful thing. It can help those of us struggling to
conceive to keep the faith and continue trying to fulfill that desire to
parent. It can help those of us who are
unhappy with our employment situations to get up every morning and get through
another work day. It can help those of
us who are fighting illnesses to keep fighting until a cure is reached. It can help those of us battling loneliness
and despair to keep plugging away at it until we achieve what we long for…yes,
hope, is a beautiful thing. Like the
colors of the rainbow, each of our sufferings might seem insignificant but when
put together, what a beautiful creation we have on our hands because we can
truly appreciate the good after overcoming the bad. If we never struggled, we wouldn’t have the
sense of satisfaction or the sheer gratefulness we will experience once
overcoming that struggle. As I viewed
all the different parts of the rainbows along Highways 68, 220, and 81, I
imagined my friends and I climbing and crawling across the rainbows (how pretty
would that be..to be up in the clouds walking along pastel wisps of color?!)
with our respective crosses. Imagine, if
you will, that as we cross the rainbow, we spill out more and more color from
our burdens, making the load easier to carry yet the rainbow becomes more and
more vibrant with color. I’m not trying
to make light of the serious hardships we all face but there is beauty in
struggle. If things were easy all the
time, life would be kind of boring don’t you think??
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| Rainbow # 3 |
In case you couldn’t already tell by my rainbow ramblings
above, I get a LOT of thinking done on these trips but at the same time enjoy
the variety of music that I dub as my “soundtracks” to my trips. I hate listening to commercials on radio
stations so automatically switch stations as soon as a commercial starts on the
station. Therefore, I enjoy a wide variety
of music as I flip through the different stations. Here are some songs that jumped out at me
during this trip:
This song goes with the rainbow analogy…All I want for
Christmas is happiness/a child/a job I love/a spouse/more money/the ability to
say no to people/to see Les Mis…well, you get the picture. Regardless of what it is you want, the
holidays tend to make those of us who are wanting for something to be more
focused on that desire resulting in the “blues” for many. How about instead of focusing on what it is
WE want, we focus on what it is WE can give.
All I can give for Christmas is a hug to a friend, an afternoon of playing
with the neighborhood kids, to pay for a customer’s grocery bill, to fill the
tank of a family member’s vehicle, etc.
This song made me think of not only the people who perished
four short days ago but all those who we miss in our lives. Christmases past hold many memories with
loved ones who are no longer here. It
can be very easy to get bogged down with sadness and despair, especially if
spending the holidays with fewer people or alone this year.
How fitting this song is at any point in time..! May we always remember to try to learn as we
go and keep in mind that sometimes we lead, sometimes we follow!
I have written about this song in the past, likening it to
my experiences in the PhD program…I clearly remember hearing & thinking
about these lyrics in a different way during one particularly challenging
semester! Now that I’m on the other side
of the hurdle pushing my way through…it’s amazing to see how much I’ve grown
(personally and professionally) over the last 2.5 years and I’m excited for the
future. In terms of my journey, I’m
about halfway over the rainbow and it’s a long way down but when I look behind
me, the colors shine so brightly and looking ahead, it’s nothing but blue skies
with some gray clouds off in the distance!
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| Neat looking cross somewhere in VA |
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