500 miles

and i would drive 500 miles . . . just to be in north dakota for one day; for less than one day; for an evening.

that's just what i did this weekend. tim was going to go to des moines for the weekend so i called angela saturday morning to see what she was doing in lincoln only to find that she wasn't in lincoln. she was in north dakota. she caught a ride up there with my aunt cindy and cousin cristy and all of the ladies were chillin' at the lake for the weekend. angela said, "you could come up here too." and i said, "no, it's kind of far and gas is expensive." and she said, "yeah, i understand." then i talked to my mom for a few minutes and she said, "well you know, you could just come up here too." and i said, "yeah, it's tempting, but i don't think i can."
but i really wanted to. i thought about seeing mom and grandma and angela and cindy and cristy and seeing grandma's new deck and redecorated cabin, and i thought about spending the weekend here alone and i knew that if i spent the weekend here alone i would be thinking the whole time about being there. so i went.

i left saturday morning at 10:00 and i got to the cabin at about 6:00 that evening. none of them knew i was coming so i had the extra pleasure of being the unexpected but very welcome visitor. we chatted for a while on the new deck then, as i was rather sweaty from the eight hour drive with no air conditioning, we decided to take a dip and do some funnoodling. when we got back my uncle warren and aunt carol were there and we spent the rest of the evening eating and chatting. it was so good to be home. the drive was well worth the few hours i spent there. those times are too few and far between these days.

the next day i left at about 11:00. i like the I-29 drive. it feels like home to me because i've driven it so many times. it was kind of fun driving alone too, with the sunday npr on just like old times--though i couldn't always hear it very well because my speakers are terrible and my windows were open. i think it's a pretty drive too, though some find it interminable and boring. north dakota was beautiful this time of year too. the wheat fields were just starting to turn so some were green and some were gold, and the sky was blue and the horizon was plentiful.

i didn't yet mention the biggest blessing of the trip: my miracle. i prayed rather shyly to God and asked him for good gas mileage on the way there so it wouldn't cost quite so much. my answer was a nonstop trip all of the way to valley city: 38.6 miles per gallon. and that's in a 1987 Honda with over 200,000 miles on it. i got 33 mpg on the way home. you could surmise that maybe it's because the wind was at my back, but i prefer to think that God was the wind at my back. miracles don't always have to be completely improbable.

it reminds me of a carolyn ahrends song "go with the wind at your back and the sun on your face, with a song in your heart and the promise of grace . . . go with God."

may you go with God as well, my friends.