Today in North Idaho it is sunny with a high of 58°.  I am packed up and back on the road today heading out of Washington and back to North Idaho!  I will be taking a scenic route off of I5 and over to 20 through the Cascades. I’m hoping the weather holds out but I might run up against some fog.

It amazes me sometimes how my perspective can so quickly become tweaked. How a simple road trip can open my eyes and expand my heart. I imagine the lives of the people living in the towns I pass through. Some homes are so remote. What do they do for a living? Did they go to college? Do they work from home? Is there WiFi in these here parts?!?!  “Mow the lawn and find a tractor.”  And then the cities and the obvious loss of connection that the smaller towns can’t help but have.  The beautiful old architecture and massive manufacturing, a zillion shops, restaurants and pubs.  Different strokes for different folks.

How did I land in North Idaho?  Those little feet kept walking, my life had the same direction that all school children had in life.  After I graduated high school I married a man nine years my senior and went to college for stenography. I had my daughter shortly before I received my state CSR license. My mother had moved to North Idaho with her third husband about a year before I passed my exam and invited us to move up too. The area was beautiful so we packed our belongings and we went. My daughter was nine months old when we started life in North Idaho.  I must have sang Somewhere Out There from An American Tail a hundred times. Her favorite song and it kept her attention on the long drive!  The move was a big change. It was a new beginning.  Life was so full of promise and I’ll never regret moving to North Idaho and raising my daughter here.

My daughter has told me several times that she had a great childhood. I can’t begin to tell you the depth of peace that brings me. If I die tomorrow!  If I did nothing worth while with my life but give my daughter a happy childhood then I’m okay with that!! That is the only thing that has ever had my feet solidly placed on the ground. Her happiness was my only true purpose.

So know your purpose and fulfill it. It may take a life time!  It may be more than one thing!  Keep your focus because in the end everything else is just noise.