50 in 52 Journey

It’s official. Well really it’s unofficial. This afternoon when I crossed the border into Mississippi I officially acomplished the goal of visiting all 50 states in the 52 weeks of 2009. Technically the Journey is not over as I have yet to complete interviews in Oregon and Colorado. Those will happen in the next two weeks. For the moment, however, I am working to untangle the cornucopia of feelings driving into Mississippi flooded me with.

I had no idea how I was going to pull this Journey off. At one point towards the middle of the year when I ran out of my 401K money I even drafted an email to my board apologizing for my failure and throwing in the towel. I wept as I drafted it sitting on the playground with my kids nearby. I sent the email to my boyfriend Michael. When I saw him a bit later that day he took me by the shoulders and looked me in the eyes and said “You have not come this far to quit. We don’t quit.” He then sunk what money he had into the Journey and urged me to go out and try to raise more. His belief in me, his support of the Journey, his passion for our mission pushed me forward and made this moment today possible. Never have I been so supported. Never.

There were lots of “nevers” that came to mind on my drive this afternoon. In no particular order:
I never thought I’d get lost in the Ozarks.
I never thought I’d interview the Mayor of Mountain View, Arkansas.
I never thought I’d know Mountain View, AR existed.
I never thought I’d drive through two full tanks of gas in one day.
I never thought I’d have personal heros in all fifty states.
I never expected to see every dime of the stimulus funds that went into road repair in action. (Read: Lots and Lots of construction traffic.)
I never thought I’d be invited into the home of a traditional Mennonite family and then invited to spend the night in their guest trailer.
I never thought I’d meet a Navajo woman who would so eloquently share her hope that one day her people would be respected.
I never knew I’d cry so much or so deeply.
I never knew I’d make so many intimate connections in such a short span of time.
I never thought I’d be ON Facebook, let alone addicted to it and so many other forms of social media.
I certainly never thought I’d sleep on the couch of someone I had only met days before through Twitter.
I never thought I’d see a former NFL player sit before me and sob over the injustices he sees around him.
I never thought I’d make it from curbside to seated for takeoff in 8 minutes at Denver International Airport.
I never thought a prayer for my safety and success would open a pandoras box of my own issues with my religion.
I never knew that my children would be so proud and would bring me to their classes and introduce me as their hero.
I never knew I’d use a compost toilet.
I never knew there were people who still live on and work the land their families homesteaded.
I never knew how breathtaking a cactus is.
I never thought that each state would have such unique beauty.
I never knew the Hawaiian term Kuleana which ties entitlement to responsibility.
I never knew I’d see trees appear from a body of water like a mythical oasis.
I never knew I’d get such a thrill simply crossing a border into a new state.
I never knew I could comfortably sit in a restaurant alone and enjoy a meal.
I never knew so many would open their doors to me and welcome me in.

And while I never knew how I’d accomplish this journey I never for one minute doubted the beauty of America and the powerful passion of her people.

Thank you for being a part of the Journey. I have a lifetime of thanks to return to you and many more stories before the Journey truly begins.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 9:37 pm and is filed under JourneyWoman. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.