Hopefully you can see from the title of my blog that I have the desire to just go. I love road trips more than most things in the world and since I have been blessed with friends who share this spirit of adventure as well, we tend to do some crazy trips together.
Like that time we drove to New York City last week.
It was incredible. I am not usually one for the city life, but it was quite a memorable trip. We crammed in as much sights as we could in the two days of exploration we had. It’s safe to say we were all left in awe of the big city with the impressive skyscrapers, crowds of people, and constant rush of everything around us. We learned quickly to walk fast because everyone had somewhere to be, and they were determined to get there as soon as possible, even of it meant shoving you aside.
Surprisingly, one of my favorite experiences was taking the subway everywhere. I was enthralled with the variety of people and different characters of New York all in one small space. One time in particular was especially sweet for me and my friends.
It was late in Brooklyn. My friends and I were full of fried pizza and our legs ached from walking around the city for the second day in a row. Needless to say, we were ready to put on our sweatpants and crash on the couch. As we made our way through the station, multiple people ran frantically past us to catch the subway before it pulled away. Our group decided that despite our tired spirits, we did not need to rush. The subway left as we walked up so we began to check the time for the next arrival. All of a sudden, we realized music was playing through the halls of this stop, which is normal for stations, but this music was different. One man sat next to us playing the harmonica, tambourine, banjo, and kick drum with vocals (I know, impressive right??) while his partner stood across the tracks playing the fiddle. We had seen a lot of subway performances so far but this one captivated us. It was obvious these guys had so much joy, they loved playing music and they were incredibly gifted with it as well. It may sound strange how happy seeing this performance made us, but I guess maybe you just had to be there. We got on the next subway ten minutes later still in awe of the crazy talents we just witnessed.
We immediately became thankful that we did not rush to catch the first subway, because if we did, we would not have heard the performance. While it is good to be driven and go places with a purpose, sometimes we use that as an excuse to constantly be rushing on to our next event planned or something to cross off our to-do lists. I can’t help but wonder what would happen if people went through the day strolling rather than running? It’s not only in New York City where people hurry through their days, but even here in little Boone town as well. I also wonder, what other things have I missed because I was distracted and self-seeking to just accomplish the next thing planned in my day? So why do I continue to busy myself anyways and believe I have to accomplish things to be successful in my day? It’s like that cheesy saying, you know…where it says something about enjoying the journey not just your destination…or something inspiring like that. Maybe I should look that up…
I think that’s why I love road trips so much, because it was not only the destination of New York that was fun, but the drive there and back as well (if you asked me this around hour 9 of the drive back, I probably would not have said that…but looking back now I would.)
So the lesson from this long novel would be: life is not made up of “things” but experiences. So walk a little slower, take it all in, and enjoy the journey. Take trips. Oh, and take the time to learn several instruments, because you will earn automatic cool points from me. Also (side note) it takes a brave soul to drive in New York City- so shout out to our brave soul Graham Turner.
Have a sweet Wednesday my friends.
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