The Best Trip of My Life

I mentioned it before - the best trip of my life.  I have a whole blog about this trip.  It's been almost three years since this trip ended, and I still talk about it monthly, if not weekly.

It started as a distant, foggy dream.  It started when I read books like "Travels with Charley" by John Steinbeck and "A Walk Across America" by Peter Jenkins.  These authors explored America - it's cities, it's small towns, and most of all, it's people.  Their writing made me hungry to do the same.

First, I wanted it to be a walk across America.  I wanted the leisurely pace to really explore and soak it all in.  Then, I realized that I would never have the time to walk all the places I wanted to explore in America.  Plus, it might not be too safe to walk across America as a young single woman.  My next plan was to bike across America.  I got farther on this plan.  I did the research on the kind of bike, the saddle bags, the packing list, how to train, where to stay, even routes.  That was my plan: one day I would bike across America until that day in 2011.

I had graduated with my major in English in 2008.  I had immediately enrolled in an alternative teacher certification program at about the time Texas began making budget cuts in the department of education.  As an alternative certification teacher looking for an internship, I was at the bottom of the totem pole.  Meaning, I was the last person they looked to hire.  Everyone else on the playing field would get hired before me.

I spent every year from 2008 to 2011 looking for a teaching job.  By the time the summer of 2011 rolled around, I was about to give up on my dream and I knew I needed a change of pace.  I decided since life was handing me lemons, I would make lemonade out of them.  I looked at my bucket list and saw the trip across America.  I knew that was the lemonade I would make out of these lemons!

I spent six months working two jobs.  One paycheck went to my living expenses; the other paycheck went into the savings account for the trip.  I set the leaving date for March 2012.

There was one change, though.  I knew I didn't have the luxury of enough time and money to bike across the U.S.  I knew it would take too long.  Instead I sold my truck and bought an aging, but still in good condition, Toyota Corolla.  My mechanic brother looked it over, I made a few repairs, and she was ready to go.

My apartment lease expired on February 29 of that year, and I resigned from both of my jobs a day or two before that.  I put everything in storage, and then I loaded the absolute necessities in the little Corolla and took off.

I traveled until the middle of October - nearly eight months.  I made a big loop up through the midwest and then turned east until I hit Florida and drove across the south back home to Texas.  I took a week break at my parents to earn a little more money before taking off for the second loop - up through  the midwest again, then turning west.

I spent nights in my car and at campgrounds.  I spent too many nights to count at homes of generous friends and family, who not only put me up for the night, but fed me and often took me sightseeing.  In the entire eight months, I only spent one night at a hotel - a rainy night in Lancaster county, when I was too tired to try to fight the rain camping and I had a coupon for a discounted hotel room.

Those are the logistics, but I can hear you asking, "Why was it the best trip of your life?"

Perhaps it was the freedom and independence.  Every day was a new adventure without a lot of structure.  I could stop at Gettysburg National Park and tour it for five hours if I wanted.  I didn't have a lot of time constraints.  I could stop at a random roadside seafood restaurant in Maine to enjoy crab cakes if I wanted.  I could stay up late sharing heart-to-heart talks with old friends.

Perhaps it was all the time to think on my own.  I kept a blog, which helped me record a lot of my personal growth during that time.  I spent many hours on the road or on my own sightseeing and camping.  There was a lot of time to think during that time - time I used to think about my future, where I was going, what my goals were going to be when I returned home, if I wanted to change my career direction, etc.

I think it was all of the above.  I know I came home with a renewed vision, purpose, and goals.  I know I came home feeling refreshed and ready for the fray of life once again.  I know I miss those days in the little Toyota Corolla - just me and the car and the road.  I look back on them very fondly.  This is how I know it was the best trip of my life.

Book Review: "The Good German"

A few years back, I went to the Scholastic warehouse sale with a teacher friend.  It is a well-known fact that teachers cannot resist books - multiply that times about ten and you have me, an English teacher, who cannot stay away from books, much less resist them.  Anyway, we went to this sale looking for bargains.  We ended up stuffing a box as full as we could get it and buying the whole thing for $25.  It was a good deal.  One of the books I stuffed in that box was "The Good German" by Joseph Kanon.

For the last two and a half years, this book has lay on my pile of books to be read.  Somehow, this pile seems to grow over time, rather than diminish.  I think the pile has at least a dozen books on it right now.  Every break and every summer I tell myself that I will finally get to the bottom of the pile.  Every so often during the school year, when I feel like I am losing my sanity from working sixty hour weeks, I tell myself I'm going to start frequenting a coffee shop and reading once a week again.  Then, I will get to the bottom of the pile of books.

The pile still remains, but I am on summer break and on a renewed resolve to read, both for personal enjoyment and professional development.  Almost two weeks ago, I was packing for a weekend trip, and I decided to take some reading material.  I perused the pile and pulled out "The Good German."  I stuffed it in my bag, along with a book for professional development, and figured neither one would be touched, as I expected to be busy the whole trip.  

I got to the hotel room and had some unexpected time to read.  I didn't feel like thinking about school, so I pulled out the novel.  It is a historical novel, set in the aftermath of D-Day in Berlin, and told from the perspective of an American journalist.  It has all of the requirements for today's novels: mystery, murder, love.  It has the power to make you keep turning the pages.  Those are all the prerequisites for a "good" novel these days.

As I read it, my mind had subconsciously checked off these things and was wondering if this novel had anything more to offer than any other bestseller on today's bookstore shelves.  While I'm not a renowned book critic, I will tell you two reasons I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even if it remains a book that I will only read through once.

I picked up the book because it was a historical novel.  I still like it for being a historical novel.  What's more, I find it to be an unusual historical novel in the fact that it is set in a time period and place that I have never heard of another novel being set in.  I have read an abundance of novels set during the war in Germany, in the concentration camps, all over Europe, but after the war?  I have heard the history of how terrible it was for the German people, but even history books are sparse on this point.  This book treats a time period and place that I have not seen other authors treat, perhaps because it is a difficult, uncomfortable time to discuss.  The author isn't always favorable in the picture he paints of any group: the Germans, the Russians, the English, or the Americans.  He reveals flaws in all the groups, and he helps you feel a minute amount of the pain the German people were probably undergoing at that time.

I suppose the purpose of a historical novel is to help you, the reader, walk in the shoes of the people of history for a little while.  Kanon does just that.  Mostly, you are walking in the shoes of an American journalist as he uncovers a scandal, but you also get short walks in the lives of German citizens after the war - both Jewish and non-Jewish.

The other thing I liked about the book is the perspective from which it is told.  As I mentioned before, the author reveals the failings of all nationalities involved in Berlin.  Although it is told from an American's standpoint, this American journalist comes to realize that even the Americans are not faultless in their dealings.  The author doesn't paint anyone, not even the Americans, as perfect heroes.  He reveals the humanity and the corruption in everyone.  I believe this is why he created the main character and narrator as a journalist because the nature of a journalist is to investigate and to discover things that don't meet the eye.  

You could discuss many themes for this book, but the one I walked away with is "everything is not always as it seems."  The author teaches this lesson in multiple places in the book, helping the reader to see that stereotypes for any nationality, any people, in any time or place, are never always true.

My Hidden Talent

Perhaps calling it a talent is going a little too far, but then again, I know plenty of people who would sigh, "You are talented;  I wish I could do that," after hearing me play.

I play the piano.

Perhaps I should say "did."  The piano is still here, in my new home, in a prominent place, but I don't often sit down and stroke its keys.  Mostly because I don't have time, and mostly because to really get as good as I want to be, I would actually have to spend time practicing on a regular basis.  Right now, my daily routines are taken by training for a triathlon, staying on a diet, and keeping up with this blog.  Maybe someday soon I can work piano practice into my routine.

It all started before I was born.  My parents heard about an old upright piano a church was getting rid of, but it was not just any old upright - it had a full size harp in it, so it was the very tall upright style.  My dad wanted his children to learn to play the piano, so they brought it home to their garage and refinished the entire piano.

It's a beautiful piano.  It's dark mahogany with elaborate scroll work all over the front.  My parents flawlessly redid the veneer that was peeling off.  The white keys are slightly yellowed now - after so many years and so many fingers, but they are still as beautiful as ever.

That piano adorned our living room for many years.  On occasion we children were allowed to "play" it, even though we didn't have the slightest idea of what we were doing.  Finally, when I was ten years old, my dad asked me if I wanted to learn how to play the piano.

My answer was an enthusiastic "yes."

Every week, he would meet me at the piano, listen to me play the two or three songs he had assigned me to master the week before, go over the lesson in the Bastien Piano Primer, and watch me struggle through the new songs a time or two.  I learned the notes of the piano in no time, but I struggled with timing at first.  I will never forget how my dad made me get off the piano bench and do different rhythm exercises - bobbing my head, stomping my feet, etc - until I could get the beat even.

It only took a year or two until he claimed he had taught me "all he knew," so I took off on my own.  My parents willingly ordered me more piano lesson books, and I read the directions for lessons and tried to master the songs myself.  Sometimes I succeeded; sometimes I failed.  I always had fun.  I learned to play four part hymns and that was what I spent most of the rest of my teen and early adult years doing - playing four part hymns.  I learned a few arrangements, but I never learned to improvise and I never learned to play classical music, two musical goals I still have for myself to this day.

One day, when I was in my late teens, graduating high school, and my dad was trying to help me figure out what path I wanted to take after high school, we wrote down everything I enjoyed doing.  Of course, playing the piano was on there.  When I took the things I liked doing and moved them into a second column - things I could see myself working a job in - I didn't move piano playing.  My dad asked why.  I told him that it was because piano was something that was just for me.

I have never enjoyed playing for other people and probably never will.  I'm glad I didn't have all the recitals that normally go along with learning to play the piano.  I play just to hear to beauty of music and to destress.  My mom used to joke that she always knew when I was stressed as a teenager - I would bang louder on the poor old piano.  It's probably true.

Even today, when I have a need to vent or relax, I will pull out the bench and play one of the arrangements I know by heart.  My fingers stumble and I need a lot of practice, but for those few moments, it brings peace to my heart to play.

One day, I will practice again regularly.  One day, I will learn how to improvise.  (I already have all the books to teach me how.)  One day, I will learn to play classical music.  Until then, playing the piano will be my hidden talent.  Perhaps, even when I play again, it will still be my hidden talent.

My Proudest Moment

By nature, I am a goal setter and a goal achiever.  If I achieve a particularly monumental or large goal, I am usually proud of myself.  While achieving the goal of landing my dream job a few years ago was definitely a proud moment, I would have to say my proudest moment thus far in my life would be when I purchased my own house.

You see, I didn't really ever expect to own a house.  Girls aren't supposed to own houses, right?  Girls are supposed to get married and their husband buys the house, or if the girl has a job, they buy the house together.  But a girl buy a house all on her own?

Sometime in my early 20's, when I was still single with no prospects, I started mulling over this idea of owning my own house.  I was paying rent on a tiny apartment, all by myself, and I couldn't believe how much was going monthly into that black hole called "rent."  I started realizing that I could have a house payment for only a little more than I was paying in rent, and then, my money would actually be going somewhere!

Of course, there were a few small problems...

First, I wasn't sure where I wanted to buy a home.  The first thought was that I wanted to own some property and renovate whatever house was on that property.  I always have wanted to (and still want to) renovate an old farmhouse.  There is something I've loved about old farmhouses since my dad and I took a trip through his home state of Iowa when I was twelve years old.

Secondly, I didn't have any money for a down payment.  I'm talking about literally nothing.

Thirdly, I had no credit.  I had never gone into debt to purchase anything, so as a result, I had no credit.

In my early 20's, I had a bigger and more immediate problem of getting my career of the ground.  When I finally accomplished that the year I was thirty, I decided it was time to make home ownership a reality.

First, I had to start saving for the down payment.  With a regular salary, this was accomplished fairly quickly.  I was used to living on about $10k a year, so my expenses were low and my savings grew fast.

Secondly, I had to decide on a location.  I liked where I was teaching, and I knew that even if I didn't stay at that school, I would stay in that general area.  I decided on a place slightly southwest of my current school, but when I began looking at houses, I decided it was too far south of Dallas, so at my boyfriend's recommendation, I settled on a place that was just west of the school and closer to DFW.

Thirdly, I had to build credit.  This probably should have come first or second, but somehow it was an afterthought.  I was actually all ready to buy my house when I realized I didn't have enough credit (read: NONE) to qualify for a loan.  I got a credit card that required a security deposit and started using it and paying it off as fast as I could.  It took about six months for a credit score to come through.

That is when I started the whole process...getting pre-approved for a loan, finding a realtor, searching online sites for house listings, and being willing to make a decision at the snap of a finger (the housing market was very hot).

After another six months, a contract that was turned down, and most of my summer, I found the house.

You see, being the half country girl that I am, the location had to be just perfect and/or the house had to appeal to my particular eccentric style of being fascinated with older houses.  The first house I put a contract on had an amazing lot, huge backyard, and an old-fashioned style.  The second house, the house that became my house, had the perfect location - next to a lake in a somewhat secluded development.  As we left the house, I told the realtor, "Call and put a contract on it."

It was a nerve-wracking few days as the homeowners decided between me and a few other bidders.  Finally, I got the word - the owners had decided on me!  For the next month, it was paperwork, and faxes, and signatures, and more signatures.  Then, there was that one final day when I went to the title office, signed the final paperwork, and was handed a set of keys.  The house was mine!

It didn't sink in until the next day, though, when I drove down to begin cleaning the house with my mother and sister in preparation for moving.  My key unlocked the front door, and I walked around barefoot, exploring every nook and cranny and dreaming of what it would look like furnished.

It's been a journey of almost a year since then.  Slowly, little-by-little, I am getting areas furnished and decorated.  The latest accomplishment was to complete the front hall/entryway.  Home ownership requires time and money, but I am still loving home ownership!

My Bucket List

That's my bucket list.  In all it's glory.

You see, I've always been one to dream big.  Since I was in my late teens, I've had lists scrawled in the back of my journals of all the things I wanted to accomplish.  So one day, when I was desperately trying to make it on my own - single, paying for my first apartment and all it's bills without a roommate, and making less than $1,000 a month - I typed out this list on my laptop.

It was dreaming big, that's for sure.  By the time I paid my bills each month and bought the cheapest, most frugal groceries I could find, I didn't have any extra in my checking account.  If I was hit with unexpected maintenance on my truck, I knew I would founder.

Having goals helped, though.  That first year, despite constantly being broke, I managed to check off two small things on the list.  My sister took me to the drive-in theater in her college town, and when I was coming back from a road trip with friends, I took a train back.  (It was actually cheaper than any other mode of transportation for that destination!)

The list was on my refrigerator in that tiny apartment for a year before I set off on the first real adventure on my bucket list - numbers three and four - which read:

• "Travel across the United States.  Stop and visit all my friends as I go across the States."
• "Visit the East Coast and see the historical places: Plymouth Rock, Philadelphia, Williamsburg, Washington, D.C., etc."

I closed up the little apartment and let go of the lease, packed my clothes, toiletries, and a few good books in my car, put the rest of my stuff in storage, and set off across the United States for eight months.  That trip has a whole blog to itself, and it will also show up later in this thirty day challenge as the best trip of my life.

When I got back from that trip, I finally got my dream job as an inner city high school English teacher, and I got to check one more thing off my list.  While that enabled me to have a regular salary that paid a little more, it also took up more of my time.  Therefore, I've still only managed to accomplish one or two things on my list each year.

I've told you about the first things I accomplished on that list; let me tell you about the last thing I accomplished on that list and about the current things I am working towards.

I actually accomplished two things, almost at the same time, last summer.  The first was to take my mother to Australia.  Going to Australia is not cheap, but it was worth it!  We had two wonderful weeks of mother/daughter time while road-tripping up and down part of the east coast of Australia and exploring the Great Barrier Reef and Sydney.  Right before we left on that trip, I had put an offer on a house.  I came back to finish paperwork and close on the house two weeks later.  I will detail more on the house in my blog post on my proudest moment, but buying my own house is the very latest thing I have accomplished on that bucket list.

Currently?  Well, currently I am working on training for a sprint triathalon which is one of the steps towards my long-term goal of competing in an Ironman.  The other two goals that I plan to work on soon is a book to be published and starting up TaeKwonDo classes again.  

There are people who say bucket lists are cliche, and I am actually inclined to agree.  If you know me personally, you know I will refuse to do something because it is popular.  I will argue, though, on the bucket list.  First, I don't believe it was popular when I first made mine.  If it was, I did not know it was.  Secondly, it does help keep me focused.  I am a person who thrives on challenges and goals, so whenever I get bored, I go back to the bucket list and choose a new goal to work towards.  Every year, I've managed to accomplish one or two things on that list.

The list also charts my journey as a person.  You can see there are items crossed off and items added on.  As I've grown and matured, my values and goals change.  The list reflects this.  

Maybe one day, when I am a gray old lady, I can show off a tattered list with a date and a check mark beside each item.  But maybe (and this is what I'd prefer), I'll be a gray haired lady going sky-diving and driving an old John Deere tractor.