A Long Road

The wind rushes in through the open windows snapping the slack in my seat belt. Holding the steering wheel in a near death grip, I reach up and play with the angle of the visor in an effort to shield my eyes from the blinding, setting sun. The rolling planes of Nebraska slide by like roiling ocean waves, rounded crests descending into deep troughs and rising again to ever higher ridges. The air flowing in is warm and smells of sunshine with just a hint of dreams. I drive on, into the approaching night... At least, that is where I would like to be at the moment. I have imagined driving off into the setting sun for years. No particular place to go. Life is the journey, not the destination. I don't know who said it but I believe it. Lonely I may be, but I am not depressed. How can a person be depressed and see the things I see? There is beauty for all our senses to experience nearly every moment of every day. Sunshine, clouds, rain and music and books and children. Beauty is everywhere. It is even in the eyes of disadvantaged people. I have seen it. No. I am not depressed but I am most assuredly lonely. When Lee Child puts Jack Raecher on a bus because it is his preferred mode of transportation, I believe him. I think Reacher prefers to travel by bus because it gives him contact with other people. He can sit back and passively observe or he can participate in the conversation around him. Economics is most definitely not the only reason Reacher takes the bus. I am rambling today, am I not? Must be the weather. I'll see what tomorrow brings. Betty