We started our trip in our Sunday best and a stop at our friends' wedding, before we switched to proper travel clothes and a long drive down the open road from Indiana to Colorado. What a delightful trip it was! My only two regrets from the trip were linked to a lack of margin in the time we allotted, prohibiting us from making random side trips on a whim. Because of that, we didn't get to stop at a roadside chapel that would have had a stunning view out a wall of windows, and we missed stopping at the famous American Gothic house for a photo opp. (You remember that house, right? The angry looking couple with the pitchfork?) I was mostly angry with myself for not realizing that one was near our route before we left home. Rookie mistake in travel planning!
We left home that day full of excitement for our first big RV road trip and all the trepidation of not knowing if we were really cut out for this. We absolutely skipped over ANY kind of trial run in an RV before buying and renovating one, so that was a risk, right?
I have thought back to that trip time and time again in this past year. I have so much fondness in my heart for the memories we made and the true joy and rest we experienced after weeks of intense solo work at WillowBridge.
I've also wondered what it would have been like to do that trip with Lexi! (Parts of it would have had to be modified, because not all the places we went were dog friendly.) That girl loves the outdoors and the chance to go for a ride, so I have no doubt she would have adored it.
This weekend is Memorial Day weekend here in the States, and while culture seems to lean toward camping trips, opening lake cottages, and having picnics, the point of Memorial Day is to remember those who gave their lives defending our country.
Last night, as I thought back over that beautiful road trip we enjoyed and as I rested from a nearly perfect day with Ryan, I had two specific thoughts about the brave men and women who died for our country. One was that because of them - and the many who lived, too, - I was able to enjoy a road trip last summer and a practically perfect day yesterday. The second was that I know there are many military families who don't get to keep making memories in the same way anymore, because someone didn't come home.
My heart aches to think about those losses, and it makes me grateful for every person who was willing to go and bravely fight.
When Ryan and I lived in Kokomo, we were part of a patriotic program each summer, and every night of the program, they would invite the veterans from every branch of service to the stage. I never got through that once without crying. Not once. And they were the ones who came home. How many more didn't get to stand on a stage to be recognized?
This Memorial Day, I'm thankful for the sacrifices of those who gave everything, and I'm grateful for the memories those sacrifices allow so many of us to enjoy.
1 comment:
Beautiful thoughts!
In Israel Memorial Day is really somber day, Israelis who come to live or spend time in America are shocked at our day of bbbqs!
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