Wanderlust

“The American Dream is made up of many elements, not the least of which is wanderlust. Our country was founded and populated by generations of people searching for new experiences and filled with curiosity about what could be seen on the other side of the mountain.” -Melissa Chewning

My mom wrote this in an album dedicated to my dad after they drove from Stone Mountain, Georgia to the West coast in 1985. I made this trip with them (my mom was a few months pregnant with me), and I am amazed that I will be making a similar trip in just a few days- this time as an adult with my own husband, and this time with no intention of turning around when we hit the Pacific.

It is a surreal and incomprehensible idea, leaving your home. I’ve been away from my husband for five months now, with most everything that I own either in storage or being lived in by strangers. This makes my upcoming trip to rejoin my other half seem more like a homecoming than a move away. But I still can’t get my head around leaving my friends and family and the city that I’ve known since birth.

David and I have always struggled with The American Dream- what it is, why we fight for it, why we want out once we get there. I will say that my mom nailed it with the “wanderlust” idea; I think The American Dream ends when you achieve it. When you can dream and hope and plan… that is The American Dream. That’s what is amazing about America- that you can dream.

I am surrounded by a group of friends and family here that do nothing but encourage me to dream. And as we move three time zones west, we know that nothing will change about these relationships but the circumstances. These are relationships are rooted in something stronger than the Navy and larger than 2000 miles. They are rooted in Christ.

So I will leave the South tomorrow to see what’s on the other side of the mountain. And while we are excited to fight for a country that fosters dreaming and while we are enthralled with the wonder of this adventure, we rest in the comfort of knowing that no mountain can separate us from what we have here at home.