nostalgic drive

Driving by yourself has a way of making your mind wander. On my drive to Vancouver yesterday with only Catherine asleep in the backseat, I found myself admiring the colorful view. Trees line both sides of the freeway, a stream of gold dotted with green. That's one of the beauties of living in the Evergreen State - fall foliage will always include green.

I think to myself that I've always liked making the drive in the fall. Then I start to think about all of the times that I've made this drive. In the 11 years since I moved from Vancouver to Tacoma, I estimate that I've made this drive about 100 times. No, it must be more than that. 200 maybe? Well, a lot of times. Driving from school to visit my family, then once I graduated it was visiting my family from where I call home.

And driving in the fall... I think it most reminds me of driving home the first few times after I became a student at PLU. I was a freshman, uncertain in the world of where I was going or who I was. But I knew one thing for sure: my family loved me and they were always there for me to go home to. And they still are. Many, many changes have happened in the last 11 years. But it's still home, and there is still plenty of love to come home to.

This trip had a couple of special things in mind: seeing my mom's new house for the first time (which is so cute and perfect for her), and an early birthday dinner for my sister (she's turning 25 next Wednesday - holy cow!). The trip was full of reminders of the past, and feelings of the future. Here's some great pictures of the trip: