unfamiliar roads

Yesterday was a great day. There was rain, there was hot chocolate, there was a shower at about 10 am, there was good feedback on my paintings, there was grocery shopping alone, and there was photography. At about 3 pm I got in my car with a list of things I didn't have and I needed for a baked ham recipe I got online. I decided to go grocery shopping to a small shop called Marvin's IGA because I wanted to get a cheese like the one my professor got for the last painting critique we had. It was really good and she said she got it there, and so I wanted to see if I could find it. I forgot the name of the cheese, I'm not really good at those things, but I am a visual person so I thought I might find it by the looks.

I drove down to where I thought the store was only to realize it was a different store and I had gotten it confused-- I do this sort of thing often. Since I was already in Fayetteville and I had my camera with me I took off to Mt. Sequoyah to get some pictures from up there. The sky was looking beautiful with still some gray clouds but with hints of golden where the sun wanted to reach for me. On my way there I took unfamiliar roads and enjoyed the ride. I knew they would take me where I wanted to go, because that was easy.... just go uphill and you'll get there. Besides, Fayetteville is a very small town. I couldn't possibly get lost, and if I did, all I had to do was turn into a road going downhill and I would eventually find a main street.

The drive was so calming. There's a clarity in the air after storms or long rainy days that seems so real and magical at the same time. It's been a mild winter so far, so I could lower my windows and I let some cold air come in the car. My hair got cold and it felt nice. It felt like it feels when I don't dry it well and put it up then at the end of the day when I put my hair down still smells... fresh. The cold air got to my lungs and reminded me of how good breathing feels, and how often I forget it.

When I finally got to Mt Sequoyah I got out of my car and started shooting pictures. I walked a little down the road and got in the retreat center I've been so many times for leadership things from school. I got a picture of the benches and the leaves on the floor and then I left because it felt like I was somehow interrupting something. Call me crazy, but it felt like all those benches were starring at me. So I turned back and left.

I got on my car and instead of taking my usual route back I went down on another unfamiliar road. I had already been thinking how nice the drive up there was and so I wanted to keep feeling good, leaving all things known on the side and seeing things differently. I ended up on a street that would take me to the main street to go back home. And just when I got close to the stop light I looked left and there was, in that corner, the store I had been looking for earlier that afternoon. At the end, those roads took me where I was going.

It was a good day. Even if right after I got all of the things in my list I left my keys inside the car. Happy new year!