I finally made it to Memphis today. It was a pretty intense day of driving. I was sort of beginning to think that the whole idea of driving across the country instead of a nice leisurely flight was a bad idea, but I got over that after awhile. I made it to Melissa's place (a friend from Goucher); she lives with her fiance Alan, and they are both the bee's knees in my opinion. I took a few pics of the road and Worf looking slightly terrified at a rest stop somewhere in Tennessee. Oh, and yeah, I drove through the entire state of Tennessee. I feel like the South has really gotten a bad rap. It's definitely very different than the North, to be sure, but it's really beautiful. Everyone's really nice, too. It is super easy to get lost here, though. I drove for almost 30 minutes in the complete opposite direction of Memphis before I realized that seeing farmland is not a good sign when your objective is a major city.
Melissa and I had a long talk about the state of things in our lives, and sort of caught up on what we've been up to for the past few years. We haven't seen each other in quite some time, and have both taken pretty divergent paths (she is now a muckity-muck PhD at St. Jude's). The reason it didn't seem like any time had passed, though, is because the fundamentals of who we are hasn't changed since college. We're both a little nutty, but I think that we've both learned to view that as a strength rather than a weakness. I think we've both learned a lot of important lessons.
So, heavy thought for the day: I wish it hadn't taken me so long to realize that playing the victim when faced with adversity is a good coping mechanism but is ultimately self-defeating. My dad told me a long time ago that even though your parents may mess you up, in the end it's really up to you to take that and run with it. I think it took me until last year to realize that. I suppose it's all part of the rich tapestry of experiences that comprise one's life.
It's taken me 31 years to learn all these experiences; what happens next? The first 31 years seemed to drag on forever.
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Da and Ma are enjoying your adventures!
ReplyDeleteMy dear poet and friend. Thank you for sharing your journey. I'm enjoying reading your thoughts which you express so eloquently in your blog. I laughed and learned from your father's words and plan to use them on my own son, exploiting them to absolve myself of any blame, not the way your father intended them. I guarantee that the next 31 years will go by in a flash and you'll wish that they'd drag on a bit. Embrace the painfully slow drag of your youth! Safe travels.
ReplyDeleteman, i love reading what you have to say.
ReplyDeletealso I think for you the next 31 years are going to be the better half. Great things will happen.
Sten, I enjoy reading your blog, and I hope you are doing well and having a great trip so far. I was praying for you and thinking about you tonight, and realized I didn't check your blog yet. The south is a neat place (although Louisville is kind of south/mid-west), and I've enjoyed living in Louisville. It was great to see you and mom in July, looking forward to the chance to visit you this fall!
ReplyDeleteSten, Love the blog.. just a couple of comments... I'm 41 and still trying to figer things out... I can tell you the older I get the BETTER my life becomes!
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