Another beginning...

Here I am on the eve of another traveling adventure. We just finished celebrating one of my friend's last nights in Athens. We had a good ole time at my favorite places, the Royal Peasant and Trappeze Pub. It's a real shame how we just found out about each other living in the same place just a month or so ago. More good times could have been had, but for now we settle for a few beers here and a few beers for the road as he goes back to Indiana to finish the old degree.

As for me, I am looking at a 14 hour drive in the morning. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I can't hide my disappointment that this trip, which originally included Colorado as the focal destination, is turning more into a week long venture in Texas. I spent a good portion of today on the floor wallowing and wishing that the trip could magically turn back into my dream trip, where we would be shouting the lyrics of whatever song was playing as we reached the snow capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately, this is not going to happen and I've had to put some things into perspective...

This trip has never been about where I am going, but who I am going to see. If I should have learned anything in my life up to this point, it is the fact that people are a hell of a lot more important than places. My best friend lives in Texas. I happen to hate the state of Texas. Hate it. It is hot and full of cowboys, but there is one redeeming quality about it that I can't forget: I have friends there. I could whine all day about not going to Colorado anymore, or I could be genuinely concerned about why we can't go to Colorado. Obviously, there's a reason. Sometimes I wonder if my isolation and self-sufficiency here in Athens has blinded me to the troubles of my friends in other places. With all of my friends scattered all over the country, it's easy to forget that there's a whole lot of stuff going on in their lives too, not just mine.

I'm going to try to change a little bit this week when I'm out there. Who cares if it's crazy sweaty hot in Texas? Let's have a hell of a time honky tonkin' and cowboyin' up. I just want to get off of myself for a little while and care about people other than myself.