Rough roads
Dear Younger Me,
Continue to make bold statements until they come true. Anything is possible. You have a gift of speaking things to life and I love that about you. Like when you said off the cuff to your art teacher that you would be a national artist and boom the awards came flying at you. Time and time again you have seen this. Routes were never predictable, but I can attest you can always choose to speak the dream to life.
I can’t help but think about my similar dedication to see a bear on a road trip with my sister, Sam. In the spring of 2019, after Sam graduated from Iowa State, we went on a west coast sister roadtrip. Nothing was planned. When we woke up, we didn’t know where we would be sleeping that night. Spontaneity was in full throttle. There was one thing that I said from day one and each day that followed as the trip progressed, “I’m going to see a bear.”
Locating a wild bear isn’t as simple as you might hope… we went through multiple national parks, almost all the western states and no bears made an appearance. I remained hopeful. Finally, we found ourselves on a closed road in the mountains. On our way to the Redwoods in northern California, our GPS insisted we take a closed road.
We ignored the sign. Sang duets like our lives depended on it. Stopped multiple times to enjoy the view. Then… we discovered why the sign we ignored existed. A tree had fallen and had taken half of the road with it. Three point turns were not an option. Thank goodness the Jeep could was compacted enough that we managed to scrape by. We continued to discover rough patches that would call for a road to not only be closed but discontinued… not the recommended path.
Finally, the roads became drive-able again.
Out of nowhere. On the left side a black bear leapt off the side of the mountain just a couple feet in front of the Jeep and continued on his excursion down the mountain. That’s when my sister spoke out one of the most impactful sentences of my life. I felt time pause and my ears became alert as she said, “that’s why we took all the rough road to get here or we would have never seen it.”
To this day, 6 years down the road, that sentence hits me at my core. We saw what we set out to see and it was breathtaking. I encourage you to continue pursuing the desires in your heart from seeing a bear to becoming an author. No desire is too big, ridiculous or silly. All are achieved by someone, why not you? Sometimes, you will find yourself on rough roads, but remember at some point you will return to the pavement. What if it takes journeying on the rough road to discover what you desired from the start? I know experiencing my two week goal of seeing a bear was. How much more is the dream you're chasing? Don’t let the path discourage you. Even on the roughest of roads, I know it's possible to sing or spot and appreciate the beauty in the view along the journey. Maybe it gets rough and is unpredictable, but I believe whatever dream down the road for you is worth an obstacle.
No matter what part of the road trip you relate to today, I hope you take time to enjoy the journey.
With Love,
Older You