How strange to be writing on a train again after all these years – of course I’m referring to the last lengthy train ride I took back in September 1996 when Kristie and I trekked our way across America.
Now of course this is completely different. It’s 2001. May. I’m on a Virgin train, not Amtrak. And I’m traveling north through England, not west through America.
We’re just passing through Crewe headed towards Manchester – ultimately stopping at Glasgow Central. It’s about a 6 hour trip from Leamington.
Why am I writing now? Well, I fell I should document this day so that I don’t forget how fabulous it is! This is a day where I love England. Everything is green, even the trees. Everything is flowering (we passed by a field of yellow blossoms so bright it was as if the sun had taken up residence there). The sun is shining brightly. The sky is clear and blue. And I am not cold!
What I have just described to you is NOT the England I have grown used to this past year. And it is definitely NOT the England I have been living in. This England is the day to the black night of the England I know. I’ve been living in an England of grey clouds and dark skies. Dismal, dreary, drizzly, dank, and dark. A far cry from this world of sun and warmth we have the pleasure of today.
And my prayer is that this will perhaps last…at least through tomorrow as I spend my couple of days in Scotland. I would like to think of Scotland with blue skies since I don’t know that I will much remember England that way.
I also need to remind myself not to forget that England CAN have days of beauty like this. I don’t want to look back when I leave and forget that the sun sometimes DID shine and the sky sometimes WAS blue. I don’t want to ever let the clouds and grayness rule my memories or England will forever seem a sad place which it wasn’t always.
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Now I’m in the hotel… I’ve spent my time after arriving wandering around central Glasgow. Very charming! Of course now I’m settled in bed and just finished watching REM live in Koln (I have no clue where that is – I think maybe Norway or Sweden…I’ll have to look it up.)
But anyway, seeing them live on stage only brought back vivid memories of seeing them live with Jel in Seattle. What a great time that was! I don’t know if I could ever top that – I suppose only in that I could actually meet them. Otherwise Seattle was about as good as it gets.
You know, with each passing day as I sort of stand still and look back on my life this far, I really could cry for joy. It has been even better than I ever could have hoped for – I have so many wonderful memories and I’m only 27 years old! There’s so much more to come!! I think it’s only recently that I’ve really been able to look at my life and say “Thank you, Lord!” God has really given me so much and has fulfilled so many of my silent dreams & desires. It’s so much easier to focus on what I DON’T have that I sometimes forget to look at what I DO have.
Thank you Lord for blessing me in more ways that I never would have even dreamed.
