counting down ......

It's been a wonderful trip, but I think I have finally gotten to the point where I am counting down the days until I get home.......it's six now.   I have absolutely no regrets about any of the places I went and wouldn't change a thing, but just in the last few days, I have realized I want to go home.  That is said with no disrespect to anyone I encounter on the remaining days of this journey, but I think you can all appreciate that.

I actually had a very nice day today.  Slept in and then Susan and I drove around a bit, had some lunch, hit an antique mall and then went and picked up her dogs from a friend's house before we eventually went out for Thai food for dinner.   I got to drive past the old house I lived in when I was in 6th grade - I actually recognized it right away!   It was just a nice relaxing day and a much appreciated break from the constant go, go, go of the last few weeks.   Lots of good conversation today and it's one of those things where the longer we talk, the more uncanny we realized our lives paralleled each other's.   We had similar experiences happen at similar times in our lives, our tastes in many things are similar and at one point I looked down at a book she had laying beside her chair and it was one of the same home design books I have!  I know that may not seem like much to you, but when this is someone you were friends with in elementary school and haven't seen in 38 years, it just makes you believe you were friends for a reason way back then!

So now I pack for my final destination - Des Moines, IA.  I will have my final volunteering experience for the trip and then Brad will fly in on Friday night for Jeff's game on Saturday.   When the game is over, we will head west and just see where the wind takes us before we end up in Ft. Collins, Colorado on Sunday.  A day in Ft. Collins and then it's home to Salt Lake City on Tuesday!

I am finding that this week seems to be a thinking week - thinking about everything I have been able to do on this trip, the lessons I have learned and what I hope to do with that knowledge.  Brad asked me if I felt like I had gotten out of this trip what I wanted and I think I have.  I am sure the next few days, and perhaps even the next few weeks, will be filled with sorting through the mental memos and I will do my best to share what I can with you all.

So as I began to think about what my song was for today, I got to thinking that what I am today is just happy.  Content.  Rested.   So I picked a song by one of my favorite artists, Brandi Carlile, and it's called "Happy"!   I hope you are all happy too!