So much for our 28-hour trip to Columbus, Mississippi, and back. We left Nashville yesterday just after lunch, and left Columbus today just after lunch. During our sojourn, we managed to eat out twice, visit a Toyota dealership, purchase some items at the Farmer's Market, walk a few miles on the river walk, visit with the gentleman's early morning McDonald's coffee club, aid in the purchase of a new watch, effect an eyeglass adjustment, and purchase a new shirt. I cannot imagine what could have been accomplished had we stayed longer.
One might wonder why go, if the time is so short. Sometimes I have no idea. When my father was in his final months of lung cancer, I made the trip every other week. My sister and I have often made the trip and back in the space of one day. There is no perfect route, because if you were to ask five different people how to get from Nashville to Columbus/Starkville, you would get five different routes. So the question remains - why make the trip for such a short time?
It's really simple. We do it because there's a piece of us still there. It may be a house, or a school, or a nephew, or a friend, or a ninety-two year old father. We do it because it's not the length of the trip or the visit, it's what awaits us at our destination. And no matter how short the visit is in relation to the time spent getting there, the time together is what matters. Those moments spent together spur us on our journey there, and sustain on our journey back.
Because in the end, it's really not about the trip. It's about the memories we make when we are together.
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