it starts

Hello friends,

Welcome to what may become the single greatness blog the world has ever seen.

Whoa, that's a lot to live up to. Let's just settle for a blog where I post daily and update you all on life and the trip. deal? deal.

shoo...lot less pressure. thanks.

Now that that's settled, let's get down to brass tacks: I'm leaving for this super trip in 2 weeks from tomorrow! ah!!!! so much to do! so much to do! ahhhhh....

1. Finish Gathering Supplies: tent, buy Costco stuff, etc...
2. Pack Super suitcase (mary poppins' style, of course)
3. Pack Car (note to self: next time travel by umbrella)
4. Buy Catie's tickets. (oh Catie...)
5. Solidify a few places to stay (I'm looking at you, Seattle and San Fransico!)
6. Finish the roadtrip cds. (still time to send some awesome mixes my way!)
7. Put room back together the way I found it. (eh...moving on...)
8. Create a road trip blog (well, at least I did something tonight!)
9. Perform last show at Second City (Monday 7:45 tickets $5)
10. Say goodbye to my boys (I don't want to. please don't make me...)

That, my friends, is a lot to do! Seriously, though, I don't know how I'm going to be able to say goodbye to the boys. I know there is a chance I will be back. But, as a realist, I also know that means there is also a chance I won't. Tonight I choked up during a coffee commercial. These boys have changed me this year. Crying at commercials?!?! Who am I? Well, I guess that's what I'm about to re-find out. Though this is not a "find yourself" adventure, as some would call it, but rather, a "find what's next" adventure, I can't wait to actually get out on the road and reconcile the person I've always known with the person I've been forced* to be this year.

All this talking and I still haven't explained this trip. Shame on me!

Confession: I have always known I was born to do something big.

However, as I age I feel like I know less and less about what that big thing is supposed to be. and where it is supposed to happen.

I am tired of waiting. The last few years have felt like someone hit the pause button. I tried to make a change and, somewhat begrudgingly, moved to Chicago. Here I have been restrained at every step. Again I've been waiting. Waiting for life. I know nothing ever happens when a person is just sitting and waiting. That's the reason I've been a vagabond my entire life. I go where the wind blows, where God leads. I strain hard to listen to His voice. So far, He's taken me further than I ever imagined going. This is a trip all about asking Him to do it again. Again, I yell out, "God, where do you want me?!?"

On September 30th, it all begins. While I say goodbye to the boys I've lived to serve for the past year, my mom is hopping on a MegaBus and heading my direction. At 9 pm, she arrives and I will be there, car packed, waiting to pick her up, throw her suitcase in the backseat and head north. We are only driving far enough to get out of the Chicago am traffic before finding a hotel to crash into (though, hopefully, not literally.)

So let's pretend (like I am) that my actual trip begins on October 1 (like it's supposed to, mom!).

A rough outline of the trip looks like this:

1-4: Drive to Washington State with my momma stopping at Mt Rushmore and Yellowstone Nat'l park

4-7: Deer Park, WA with a college friend

7-11: Drive from Spokane to LA with my sister, Catie, stopping at Seattle, Mt St Helen, Portland, Red Wood Forest, and San Francisco

11-15: Los Angeles with cousins

15-20: Drive from LA to Colorado Springs, CO with my sister, Leann, stopping at Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, and Four Corners

19-?: Stay and explore Colorado Springs/Denver with my dads (yeah, it's plural)

So there you go, the TRIP. She's a beaut, eh? I can't wait to get it started. And now, now you're along for the ride. Check back daily from postings and pictures. I'm sure there will be everything from beautiful sunrises on the oceans to ugly catfights from the front seat to record. And I'm completely inviting you to take part on the trip as well!

If you know anything about that part of the USA and can offer advice, please do. If you want to pray that God tells me loud and clear where I need to go to stay on track for my BIG mission, that would be awesome! If you just want to be a secret internet creeper and track my life, well, I guess that's okay too, you know unless, I have to one day get a restraining order, then that's not okay...

Well, off to do more packing a such. Where was I? Oh yeah, I remember, "2 weeks. ah!!!!"

:)

*all usage of words such as "forced", "restrained", "stuck", etc... in reference to my last year are meant to be indicative of God sending me to Chicago. I still don't know His entire plan about this year but I suspect it have a lot to do with stripping away a lot of what I've always known as my strengths and quieting me down for life that is to come. It in no way has anything to do with my boss, housing arrangement, or second city. They have not forced me to do anything ever. It's just been a year like no other...