I'm starting to get tired. I'm so excited that the next two nights will be spent in the same place: Shreveport, Louisiana (where apparently there's not much going on!).
Yesterday I drove about 13 hours through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. I feel like I've been in Texas forever and there's still 5 hours left before I get to Houston. Today I'll be headed to Houston to see Kristina, a college friend, and her son (unfortunately her husband will be at work). Then I'll be going up to Dallas for dinner with Mike, another college friend. Following dinner, I'll have a short 2 hour ride to Shreveport, LA to see a Chris, a coworker and friend.
Yesterday was a day filled with interesting moments. At one point, I swear there was a tornado in the distance. There was a lot of rain and there were many storms along the way. Then I was stopped outside El Paso by border patrol. And let's not even talk about snake-infested rest areas. That was actually the main reason I stopped - I could have probably kept going, but gas stations were VERY few and far between and I had to go to the bathroom :P
Well, I'm off to get dressed and ready for my day :)
*****
Yesterday, I got the experience of going through Oatman, AZ. If you've never been to Oatman and you're ever in Northwestern Arizona, I suggest checking it out. It's a tiny town on Route 66 that has all sorts of touristy shops, but also some entertaining live bank robber shows (complete with a shoot out) and wild mules walking around. I stopped to get some postcard stamps at their very small post office. In the post office, there was a sign that said "save our post office!" with the address for state officials trying to shut down the historic office. It made me sad to think that something so historic and so unique could just be discarded.
This, of course, got me thinking about histories and pasts. How quick are we to want to forget the past and move forward... yet there's usually something we should be holding onto and cherishing, even from the rough patches. It may not be the first thing we think about or even the most economical thing to do, but if we remember our past and look back on it with fondness, then there's much to be learned and cherished.
So, today, as I jump from town to town reuniting with friends from my past, my thoughts will be not only on the fact that I will be able to take a break from driving for an entire day tomorrow... but also on the fact that I have a past. I have a story, a history... and as much as I want to focus on the future, there's something wonderful about my past. It has shaped me into who I am. I don't want to dwell on it, but use it as a time of remembering what God has brought me through and how each piece has come to define who I am today.
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