Thoughts on I-35

As we began our 3ooo mile journey today in the car, loaded down with everything we need for the next 3 months in every climate imaginable, I marveled at how small Suburbans are. Okay, Okay…..maybe it is not the Suburban, but the people’s stuff who are riding in the Suburban. How is it that one can sell everything they own and still feel like they have too much? So, we begin our journey. -

When we finally finished our last errand, we headed out of OKC on the familiar highway I have ridden on for as long as I can remember. Give me a moment to be sentimental….everything is emotional for me these days. I remember some very good times on I-35…..every holiday and free weekend growing up, the Wagoner family would drive from Dallas to either Ardmore or Guthrie or both to visit my grandparents for as long as I can remember. Some of the best times being with Reagan laying in the floorboard, me laying across the seat, and Ryan laying across the back window (obviously pre-car seat days) ……being 15 and my dad teaching me how to drive on the highway in the blue family van as we traveled to Oklahoma from Texas. Racing,…yes dad….racing Debbie and Cinnamon from Shawnee to Euless with Lyndee in the car with me….and I won. Some not so fun times as I have spun out going backwards on I-35, once in ice and once with my mom driving me to Dallas for wedding preparations. (It was raining and we passed the same semi twice, once going forward and once backwards) ……weekend shopping trips with girls, fun times with the EHC staff wives at Sam Moon, Lion King and Les Miserables with the Morans, Thanksgiving day Cowboy Games with all the brothers and the sisters….., and several trips to six flags for marathon roller coaster rides with more brothers and sisters....all of this equals LOTS OF FUN times and 80’s music down I-35.

Today as we drove down I-35 for the last time…..for a while…..and crossed the Red River, there was a little sadness. I have now lived in Oklahoma for 15 years, longer than I have lived anywhere else. This, by the way, makes Rob very happy…..saying I am no longer a Texan. Oklahoma holds so many memories for us, life as we know it as a married couple and as a family. As we drive down I-35 we are truly beginning a new chapter of our lives. What will our lives look like this time next year? Who knows. Only the One who created us and set us on this path that would veer us off of I-35 and put us on a highway that is connecting us to other destinations…..