#RSRSeesTheUSA Day 63: IL-IN-OH
I spent most of today on the net-terribly-picturesque highway. Not the most exciting of days, and I started it foggy after a crappy night of sleep, which meant it involved a lot of caffeine and sugar and stops to stretch/walk and changing of the audio content in the car. I stayed awake, yes, but it was mostly a bit of a concrete blur.
I’ve returned to my “home” time zone of Eastern, and in two more nights, I’ll be sleeping in my own bed.
I’m feeling reflective and satisfied and enthused and anticipatory about this trip as I think about what it’s brought me and what I’m looking forward to coming next. I feel like there were professional ideas percolating in my brain at the start, and in the last week or so, they’ve begun to return to the surface. It’s like my body/brain decided to put some of that work dreaming on pause until I was approaching the end here when I’m more ready to press play again.
One thing that’s really refilled my cup on this trip is how many friends I’ve been able to see across the country and back. This morning started with a coffee and catch-up with Mimosa before I got on the road, and that’s probably the last friend I’ll be connecting with in person on this trip.
Here’s a smiley collage of photo proof that I got see actual friends in the flesh all over this country and from lots of walks of my life. (BTW, this isn’t even actually a complete representation, because there were a couple where we had too much fun and forgot to selfie.)
All in all, I got to see over two dozen of my much-missed people in half a dozen states in just over nine weeks. Some of them I hadn’t seen since pre-pandemic. Some I hadn’t seen in over a decade. Some of them I even saw twice (*waves to Meagan and Andy*).
Smiling and connecting and touching base with so many of them has helped remind me of how I fit and what I might do between all these networks.
