~along the back roads~

When Mike and I moved to Burkburnett, Texas in late May of 2015, we were thankful to finally be close enough to see some special family members and spend what would end up being very precious time with them.  Our home here along the Red River put us within an hour's drive to the south of Mike's Aunt Margaret and to the northwest to my sister and brother-in-law. 

Olney, Texas and Altus, Oklahoma were "home" to those special people.
How glad we were that we got here just in time.

Only 4 months after our arrival on the plains of the great Lone Star state, Mike's aunt passed away.  We were sad because it seemed as though we had only just arrived here.  Even though Mike and I  went nearly every single weekend to visit her, we found ourselves wishing for a bit more time with her.  In the end, we gave thanks that at least we had a summer to enjoy her. The road to Olney was nearly 120 miles long in both the going and the coming back.  Yet it was worth every inch of it to spend time with that dear and now sainted woman.

Slightly over 2 years after we got here, my dear sister Sherry passed away on June 16th of this summer.  Even though she was so terribly ill with the effects of end stage COPD, losing her was still a bitter pill for me to swallow.  We had grown as sisters during that short 2 years of time and when she took her final breath, I felt as if my best friend in the whole world had gone away.  I'm doing better now, even though I still miss her.  Once in a while when I get to bemoaning the fact that she is gone, my dear husband Mike always reminds me of the same thing.

"Peggy, look at this way.  At least you were able to have 2 good years with her here."

And he is right.  
I did.

This morning I went over to Altus to help my brother-in-law with a few of Sherry's things as we sorted and figured out what to do with items no longer needed.  It's not the most fun job ever but certainly one that is necessary.  We've been at it awhile and are nearly done.  At noontime I started home once again, making my way along the back roads from there to here.  I've kind of found I enjoy the trip going that way instead of south into Vernon and then over here to Burkburnett from there.  There is something peaceful and quiet about it all, and it gives me time to think about things and just where it is that I am going from this point in time.

Today for some reason as I was driving the back way home, I was thinking of Sherry and when we were kids growing up on the farm in Kansas.  There was nothing in particular on my mind, just nice remembrances of a life that was so much simpler than the one I live today. The passage of more than 60 years of time has erased part of the memories of my very early days.
Yet there remain happy recollections aplenty of a life that I wish all kids could grow up in.  

You know, I think I need to take those back roads more often.  Something about them actually provides a sense of healing, and certainly they seem to relieve a feeling of stress as a result of not only losing a loved one, but simply by living in the hurried pace that we all seem to find ourselves in from to time.

I have lost two sisters this summer, both within 6 weeks of one another.  Someone asked me the other day how I was doing, and I believe my reply was that I was just doing my best to stay alive.  I feel sure that God has a plan yet for me here on this planet called Earth.  I believe that there are still things that I will be called to do and of this I am assured.

The one God who has my remaining days in His hands, will not leave me alone in the wilderness.  I figure He will be with me wherever it is that I may travel.

Even along the back roads.

~a ripening milo field between Altus and Tipton, Oklahoma today as I traveled home along nearly 70 miles of back roads~