Happiness is: a little journey

Friends, greetings from Winchester, Virginia, from your good friend Sarah.  Yesterday I flew into Washington, DC’s Dulles airport. I love walking through this airport because of all the 50 US State flags on display. 



I flew in early, in order to meet up with my Friend Bobby, who is a federal agent.  He and I have been Friends for more than 13 years.  We met on a plane---I was super mean to him on a short flight from Indianapolis to Detroit before I realized he was an agent.  Funny how some of my very best Friendships come from airplane conversations, and usually start out when I am on my worst behavior.  I will share that story with you another time, but suffice it to say, Bobby and I remain terrifically great Friends, and he got me into the agent training facility fitness center so that I could get a workout in with the recruits.  Did yours truly just haaaaaappen to end up on the restricted side of the campus?  Maaaaybe.  You know I did.  You knew I would.  I have a knack for ending up in places I am not supposed to be able to get to, and I like that challenge.  After taking in the academy and all the recruits in their uniforms and weapons, I ran outside on the trails and stopped and did each fitness stop’s exercises. 

 

I saw a couple sweet little deer just hanging out, watching me and the handsome young bucks (get it?) running the trails.

 

When I stopped to do my crunches, I looked up at the trees and imagined myself swaying back and forth with the wind.

 

After a good hard 60 minute sweat, I went to shower.  Let me tell you what, Friends, government agencies, even the most important ones, have crappy facilities.  Check out this pepto-bismol pink and green women’s locker room, complete with hairdryer from 1971.

 

I spent the night at the academy after drinking scotch with a bunch of super experienced agents who had a million stories of drug busts and money laundering rings, and then I made the 2 hour drive to Virginia. I love this state.  I love its beaches, I love its mountains and valleys, I love its kind people, I love the accent here---that soft just a little bit southern drawl, and I love how the men all open doors and say good morning.  It was a lovely drive through the fog-covered mountain valleys just after sunrise, with the trees just starting to turn colors.

 

Winchester loves its historical houses and its green spaces.  The hospital where I worked today even embraced the outdoors by putting in floor to ceiling windows so that as I worked, I could see this view.  It is so peaceful here.

Tomorrow I wrap up with this hospital and its excellent surgeon and my audit work, and I drive to Charlottesville to do it all over again at a new place.  Travel is like that---I fly in, I make Friends quickly, I work super hard, I move on, and I repeat it each week.  This is my life.  This has been my life for about 20 years now.  I get to see this country, the world, 6 continents and 39 other countries.  The best part of the whole thing is the people I meet and the things I learn from them.  I doubt I will ever have roots again, this travel is so much a part of who I am now, but I have never been happier.
 

Today I hope that you, too, take a minute to look around you, wherever you are, and just take in how beautiful it is outside.  Take a minute to be grateful for all the people you cross paths with on your own little travels and journeys.  I have had some of the greatest experiences of my life doing what I love, and I have met some of the greatest people I could ever hope to, and I’ll tell you what, Friends, for all the challenges and crazy adventures I have had, I would not change a thing.  That, today, is my happiness.
 

Sending lots of love from Virginia, the place for lovers (which is their state motto---kinda neat),

Your Good Friend Sarah