From somewhere so very far away~

Good morning friends and family from the beautiful and majestic Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  I left my home in Kansas right after school was out yesterday and took a day of personal leave from school for today in order that I could make this journey.  When I was here 3 weeks ago, I found out something very interesting about myself and the something is this~I kinda/sort of love it here.  More on that later.  I made it as far as Canon City last evening and because I was way too tired to have been driving safely (yes, I know~You don't even have to tell me) I stopped for the night to get some rest before going on to the home of my very dear friend, Mike Renfro, in Montrose, Colorado.  I'm still several hours from there but at least now the journey will be made by a much more rested driver.  

As a teacher, I must have read the book, "Charlotte's Web", to students a bazillion times over the past 35 years.  One of my favourite lines in the book comes when Wilbur the pig is meditating over the many things that lie before him and the questions that he has of his life.  Will he be able to "special" enough that his life will be spared before he is butchered by the farmer?  Can Charlotte the spider REALLY be of help to him?  What if Fern, his little friend, forgets about him and he suddenly finds himself all alone in the big world?  LOL, such philosophical questions the author E.B. White suggests to us all as the readers.  At the end of the chapter, White writes "his stomach was empty but his mind was full and when your mind is full, then it's hard to sleep." 

My mind has been full of a lot of things lately~the business of life can sometimes catch up to you.  Sometimes you "second guess" yourself about things and I gotta tell you during that last hour's stretch of driving last night, I was sure as heck questioning why in the world I hadn't stopped for the night 30 miles back at Pueblo.  But I made it here, in one piece, thanks to a God that watches over even idiots like me who drive when they actually are getting too tired.  My guardian angel, well she's been putting in for either over time or early retirement, ever she got assigned to me.  I am thankful for all of the blessings of safe driving, no vehicle issues and any other thing associated with being behind the wheel of a car.  

When I got here last night, even as worn out as I was, I just couldn't fall asleep right away.  So when I am anxious or thinking about too many things, I try to do the one thing that calms me down immediately....I write in this blog.  I'm afraid I was a sight to behold..couldn't find a dang plug in anywhere but next to the sink in the bathroom. So the seat of the toilet became my chair and the side of the bathtub became my table and for the next 20 minutes I pounded away on the keys.  And after 20 minutes had passed I did the sanest thing I'd done all evening....I deleted what I wrote (because it wasn't what I really wanted to say anyway) and promptly fell fast asleep.  You'll be happy to know that the "falling asleep" part happened in my bed and not on the toilet stool :)  Just saying for those of you like my dear friends Dennis and Craig who might be wondering.

Right before waking this morning, I had the most wonderful dream about my mom.  We were all home there at her house and she had been away from us for so very long.  All of us had been missing her and everyone kept asking the others, "Have you seen Mom?  Does anyone know when she'll be back?"  Just at that moment the doorbell rang and when I went to answer it, there she stood smiling at me.  She looked beautiful and happy, a much younger version of herself than she was when she passed on in 2007 at the age of 87.  For the briefest moment in time I saw her there and she pulled me close to her, gave me a kiss and told me two things, that she loved me very much and that it was time go on.  Dang it all, then I woke up!  But I awoke with such a happy heart as is often the case when I dream about loved ones that have gone on before me and are there waiting for me to join them someday in Heaven.  But just an aside here, my mom would have "grounded me" for sure due to my driving tired last night.  She would have told me that I'll get to Heaven in God's time and that I don't have to make it any quicker than necessary.  :)  And she's right.

Well, I have to get going everyone.  The journey ahead is one of less miles but different terrain to cross.  Time to conquer the mountain and since Monarch Pass hasn't moved since I was here last, well I know what that means.  Because I cannot go around it and surely not under or through it, well that just means I have to go over it.  I am not afraid~I have done it before and I will do it again, many times.  More on that "life is about to change" idea later.  

Rest assured I am fine, my spirit is great, I've had a good solid sleep of 6 hours and my dear friend Mike will be meeting me on the "other side".....THAT's the Pacific side of the Continental Divide....not the other "other side".  This is Friday, the 8th day of February, 2013 and I am most positive, even now at this early morning hour, that at day's end this will have been the greatest of days to be alive in.  Rejoice in that guys!  I am thankful for every tiny blessing that I have been given this day and I remain way more determined than I would EVER be afraid.  Have I told you all that I love you?  If so, I just wanted to tell you again.

Even when things didn't exactly turn out as I had planned that evening, now 36 years ago....I still am thankful to have this photo of my parents...they were younger there than I am now :)  That's how my mom looked in the dream I had of her last night...the older I get the more I realize that I kind of look like her in a way.  I miss my parents but now I realize that their "part of the plan" had fulfilled itself and it was time for them to go as well.  John and Lois Scott, greatest parents that ever lived but of course, I do have a bias here LOL.