The long way around can be the new one

So we packed up and left amid a 'late' start. Late, for my great-uncle Marlon Brando the Welding Business Owner, is anything past about when chickens rise and cows are being milked by dairy farmers that put in a good four hours before the sun comes up. What is ironic about this is that i had fallen asleep about 10:30 pm and woke at 4:30, with no alarm. I got lots done and was ready to roll even before he was. I specifically remember waking up and saying to myself "this is what normal people do," as in, get up around the time that i am often making myself go to sleep.

So we pack up the mobile restaurant-and-anything-i-would-ever-need-for-the-next-nine-years and begin driving. This is where the revolution began. The brand-new Yukon has GPS, which my benevolent elder duly enjoys. However, i'm not sure that he ever has used it on long trips, nor has it ever disagreed with him. By the way, here is a tangent: i know why all GPS have female voices--because men listen to them and most likely are soothed by them. Besides, no guy, when navigating, is EVER going to listen to another man's voice telling him to turn right on route 73 when the driver himself is positive beyond a shadow of a doubt you're supposed to go left when you see the red BBQ joint on the right. Women, on the other hand, have no problem trusting other womens' advice--and this is no exception on the road. This principle also explains why Oprah commands a near-cult following and any book she touches turns to gold. I'm convinced she could proclaim arsenic a good thing and millions of housewives would be serving it to their children.

But--moving on...the GPS directed us, of course, since we asked for it, the quickest way home. This meant going through a mountain pass which my great-uncle had never traversed. It was, of course, the most expedient path, and we soon were booking at a nice pace on the highway toward home. There was clear debate...the elders thought this was in error, since of course on mountain switchbacks our efficiency is decreased. I trusted the technology's knowledge of all road systems, and was merely calculating our highway time based on the 'miles to destination' display on the in-dash navigation system.

We of course made it home in less time than it took us to arrive by a different route, and the GPS was true to its word. This is not to say technology is to be trusted [i actually believe quite the opposite], but only that it is alright to change from 'the way we have always done things' or 'the route we've always taken.' There is more than one way to do things, and at some point, the older must heed that the younger might indeed have valuable input.

The other part of this intruiging journey was that it was long and difficult at first, and required patience. But then we were soon shooting on a 280-mile straight-shot section of I-40 with no stop signs or tributaries of traffic. Sometimes son knows best, but anyway....

i suppose i was surprised at the trip's content. there was a clear diffraction between those from Oklahoma and well....me. not that i haven't spent time there...i have. but to me the world is bigger than that...more importantly....God is larger than the version i was acquainted with when i lived in Oklahoma.

I do not believe this means anything other than my next step does not lie in the south. The effect though, i believe, was why my future was scarcely discussed and other than a few scant comments, you'd never know that God is pouring blessings out on me regarding graduate school. Its about God, not about me, I know that. i am merely expressing a feeling of isolation from extended family that i do not believe would exist if i were staying within 100 miles of them. it is somewhat mafia-esque, i believe. perhaps all families are. whatever the case, i'm stepping outside mine, and will be taking a new path--perhaps a long way around, at first....