Leaf Fifty-one: On My Highway

Last Saturday, my best friend Lex and I made the 5hour trek from San Diego to Las Vegas. This wasn’t our first road trip together and it won’t be our last, but like all the ones that came before, there is no one I would rather have in the car than her. I blogged about this lovely woman many leaves back, yet, there will never be enough words to describe how important she has become in my life. About 7.5 years ago, Lex and I embarked on a journey that forever shaped who we are as individuals. If you would have asked us back then what was to become of us, there would be much laughter. We have both grown incredibly, thriving in life, taking on new challenges, discovering who we are, and always remembering where we started. So many things have changed since our freshmen year dorm room, still there is a part embedded in our identity, reigniting each time we connect again. Lex truly knows the deepest parts of my soul, holding me accountable for who I am and always believing in me. The friendship we have with one another is rare. It is powerful on a level that I hope everyone in the world has the opportunity to encounter in their lives. She is my person, the one I can call from my darkest corner to be greeted with kind words and an open heart. Somehow Lex knows how to make everything okay when I seem to think the world is falling apart. As I begin to wrap up this beautiful fifty-two expedition, I am so very thankful to be able to share my wholehearted life with Lex. There is nothing greater in this world than connection with people who truly love you for you. No matter where we go or what is next, Lex will be there and I for her.

 

My title for this week’s leaf is inspired by the Jason Aldean song “On My Highway”. It started playing after I left Lex in Las Vegas and was continuing my drive home to Cedar City. I became captivated by the words as Jason talks about the “highway” as a metaphor for his life. In the first verse he sings:

 

            On my highway, the yellow lines

Have disappeared from time to time

And I've wound up

On the wrong side of the road

            On my highway, I've gone too fast

Afraid that I might finish last

I hooked a curve too hard and lost control

Oh, I never know which way it's gonna go

But what a feelin' chasin' the sun

Livin' my life like it's shot from a gun

Laughin' a little bit more with every mile

Oh, what a freedom racin' the wind

Dyin' to know what's around the next bend

And smilin' as I watch the years roll by

I'm learnin' how to take it day by day

On my highway

 

The highway metaphor made sense for me. I have lived the life where I have worked hard to continue on the same road—being perfect, trying not to disappoint anyone, etc., etc. It kept me above water for a long time, but it never propelled me to the surface. Once I started embracing the highway to my heart, the kind of life that Jason talks about in the song, the surface never seemed closer. There are days where I need the “yellow lines”, the ones that keep me focused and motivated on my goals. My favorite days though, are the ones where I let the yellow lines go. When I throw my clothes around the room, leave my bed unmade, cry because it feels good, love with my whole heart, make moves on a crowded dance floor, smile at a stranger, get lost in Dallas’s arms, laugh uncontrollably with my friends, and have an everlasting faith that everything will be okay. Those are the moments that make up my highway.

 

So it only seems fitting that my road trip home with Lex be titled “On My Highway”, both literally and figuratively. And also because without Lex who knows what my highway would look like. One of the greatest blessings that has come from my wholehearted journey is the deep appreciation I have for the relationships that are part of my life. Through the good and the bad, I am a better person because of the individuals that I have encountered in my life, the beautiful friendships I surround myself with, the love I have for an amazing man and the graciousness and support I receive from my family. People make my highway of life much more exciting.