The Journey

This morning, basking in spring sunshine and shaded by palms, I remember.  Was it only 36 hours ago?

We began our journey in Rochester, NY on Thursday at 9:30 in the evening.  Leaving in the evening, we decided a late departure would get us ahead of a trip that would take us to Hilton Head, South Carolina.  Two women jumped into the car, after two separate and long work days to pursue a dream in a weekend.   Dubbed Thelma and Louise, we threw our bags into the car, gassed up, and our journey began.

The goal was to drive till we couldn’t so that we would get to Hilton Head as soon as possible.  Our GPS placed our arrival time, straight through, at 1:38 pm the next day.  The destination—the hut.   Tired but exhilarated, we began the drive. 

The evening took us through catch up conversation, snowstorms, getting kind-of-lost discussions and wondering about why the GPS would take us certain ways.  It led us to deeper discussions, slowly descending tiredness, and determination to push through.  We bantered; we took turns driving; we forced each other to nap to extend our evening drive.  We pushed through cold weather, met snow storms and ice and continued.   At 4:30 am we pulled into a gas station, parked and napped till 6:30.  Waking up, we pumped up with a quick walk in the lightly falling snow, got coffee and begin the drive once again.

On Friday we began to see elusive and promised changes in the landscape.  Was this a foreshadowing of a dream realized?   Grass along the highway was greener.  Buds peeked out on the stark winter-like trees.  Daffodils and purple began to appear along the highway.  It seemed that the transition from cold to spring, subtle at first, was quickly in full throttle.  Palm trees appeared.  The ocean breeze and the smell of sand greeted us.  Our jackets peeled off and flip-flops replaced the confines of our boots.  At five o’clock, nearly twenty hours after our journey began, we had arrived.  Exhausted and exhilarated, we arrived.  Ready to see the hut.

The hut is the destination.  It is the dream.  The journey to the dream, too, is important—sometimes as valuable as the dream.  Who partners with us as we journey makes the dream special.  Thanks, Louise, for dreaming your dream and recognizing mine.  It sure is magic to have you on this journey. 

I am grateful for our hosts.  A big thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy and Anna from Two Writing Teachers for dedicating space and time for teachers and teachers of literacy to come together to share ideas, practice and life experience.