Peaceful Easy Feeling (DAR)

We glided up the highway from Seville to Madrid, the city from which we depart and thus bring conclusion to this adventure.  The road was smooth and free of traffic.  The morning weather was perfect.  The family was quietly relaxing.  Glenda, our mostly-trusty GPS, had us on a long and straight course and I began to reminisce within my own mind.

I don’t know what it is about music but it does a grand job of evoking emotion.  Bly was playing my favorites and before I knew it I was the tearful father hiding the moist eyes behind the stage of a supposedly attentive driver.

Marathon runners are special and admirable people.  They conquer what most people only dream, and from what I am told, become emotional at the end of their accomplishment—especially their first. 

Well, this day, I felt like a marathon runner.   A peaceful, easy feeling came over me as this journey nears its end.  A feeling of accomplishment.  A feeling of doing something special and worthwhile.  A feeling of investing into something that will pay dividends for a lifetime.  A feeling that my family will be better off because of it. 

The first musical selection was the same song that was performed at my grandmother Dodie’s graveside service.  My thoughts wandered about how wonderful, but scary, she would think our adventure would be.  I thought of how I would shop the crystal stores in my previous trips to Europe decades ago to find her those perfect figurines.  Then, I thought of how she must have terribly missed my mom when she went to Europe—not for 3 months but for 3 years at the tender age of 18.

The hardest part of being gone anywhere is missing the family and friends we love, and that’s why we live where we do. 

The next two musical selections were from our early days together and from our wedding.  My thoughts went to those that supported us more than 15 years ago and those that continue today.  I also thought of the things that couples dream of doing together.  Bly and I dreamed of healthy children, a big house where we all could live, and seeing worldly places which three months ago seemed only a dream as they were so far away.

Without action, dreams are only dreams.  Make a Bucket List and use check marks—but be sure to keep adding to the list so it doesn’t reach zero.

During the Madrid drive I also pondered how my brother must feel with the announcement of the first family wedding—his daughter, Katie, the first of all of the cousins/grandkids.  I knew in his eyes she was 13 years old just yesterday.  I also recalled Mitch’s daughter at age 13 and then bam, she graduated from college and then married.

Bly and I are blessed with three girls of ages 10, 13, and 13—all of whom will be married tomorrow, or so it may eventually seem.

The girls’ ages now combined with numerous other factors made for very good timing of this adventure.  Bly and I gave this trip the importance of a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity.  We knew however that one goal was to instill the notion into our children’s ambitions that anything is possible and that if you accomplish something once it is easier to realize again.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and as the drive to Madrid continues, I know I have far more to be thankful for than deserved.  God has blessed the United States like no other nation on this Earth and my family is fortunate enough to share that blessing.  It only takes an occasional trip abroad to further one’s appreciation of the many things taken for granted at home. 

Traveling for an extended time has also made me thankful for something that probably would never have come to light—something that not all families have, not even at home in the little town of Beatrice.  Our three month adventure has been a fantastic experience.  It has not been a vacation filled with fancy hotel reservations and lobby restaurants, however almost all of our lodging arrangements have been wonderful.  It was the very few times when a roof over our heads was in doubt that really make us as parents realize the importance of a reliable and constant home.  The next meal was also coincidentally at risk during these same few times, after all there isn’t a chain restaurant or supermarket on every block, or for that matter in every neighborhood, or even in every sector of town.

The valuable part of this enlightening adventure was when we realized the necessity of stable lodging and the ability to keep a family fed.  We now have some slight insight that if a child does not have a place to call home and does not know from where their next meal will come, nothing else really matters to them—they cannot concentrate and they cannot learn.  Our measly few temporary situations pale in comparison to some struggling families.  For continuous shelter and plenty of food at a place in Beatrice we call home, we are grateful.  

We are also thankful for the people that have enabled us to do this trip.  Your support prior to our departure and then continuing during the last three months has been amazing.  A huge thank you to our family, friends, work associates, and those we have not even met yet who have supported us, followed us, and communicated with us.  Happy Thanksgiving!