The Journey Begins

They say the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.  I'm not sure who "they" are, but I read this somewhere and liked it (that is sure to be a recurring theme - the not remembering where I read something).  I've reminded myself of that sentiment on more than one occasion, when I felt somehow overwhelmed by the situation in front of me.

This time however I'm not feeling overwhelmed, but instead excited, a little bit nervous, and mostly itching to get started.  The journey will be more like six thousand miles, and will surely involve many first steps.  Three days from today Richard and I will be traveling from Peacham, Vermont to Rowe, New Mexico where I can't wait to visit with Josh and Allie,  not exactly via the shortest route possible.  Highway 55 refers to several measures of my life at this moment, including the number 5 itself as it relates to this trip.  There are only five states in the continental US that I have not driven through in my lifetime, so our travel plans for this summer involve all five states - which is why it appears that I cannot actually read a map and am not aware of the most direct route to our southwestern destination.  Not true.  I've done the shortest route (several times) and this time we're hitting those outliers!  North Dakota and Montana via the Trans-Canadian highway in the north, and Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in the South. Yes, I know the southern states will be hot in the middle of July.  Abby bravely joins me on that leg of the journey.  Hopefully the AC in my new car will continue to work faithfully until we get back home.

Is there a Highway 55 on our trip?  I'll be looking that up shortly.  But let me explain the reference.  The highway part of the blog name is obvious - we'll be on the road for a while.  But I'm currently  in the middle of the journey of 55, and I'm hoping to be open to all of the possibilities that entails, this summer and as my journey continues into the future.  Hence the new experience of blogging, to go along with the new experiences that await on the six thousand miles ahead - and all of the miles after that. However,  the deepest meaning of the number 55 comes from a gift given to me by my daughter Abigail and her husband Tom this past Christmas, a gift that represents so much more than its simple beauty.  I opened up the box with the spiraling silver bracelet and was immediately  in love with its graceful design.  But then she told me to notice the five tiny diamonds, grouped in two groups of two on one side and a single diamond on the other side.  Before she explained further, I instantly thought - oh how wonderful!!  This represents my two amazing children, Abby and Josh, and their wonderful spouses Tom and Allie, with my husband Richard represented by the single stone! But this had not been her thought.   This was their gift to me three months "late" for my 55th birthday, because she said she had been "otherwise occupied" in September and didn't want me to think they had forgotten this milestone birthday on the day she was undergoing surgery for cancer.

I wear this bracelet as often as I can, because these five people are my universe.  Fifty-five is a great time to be celebrating those I love by journeying, journaling, and sharing every precious moment on this highway called life.