The Return Trip

There are three essential parts to any road trip - the trip there, the visit, and the trip home. All three of these have completely unique aspects to them. During the trip there, an excitement unlike anything else permeates the air. You've been looking forward to this for a long time, and now you're breaking out of the routine to do something special. The visit itself always goes too fast, and more often than not it exceeds your expectations. After looking forward to the visit for so long, when it finally comes, it goes by in the blink of an eye. The return trip, though, is whole different kettle of fish.

Being somewhat melancholic in temperament, I relish the return trip. It is a time for reflection, a time to start moving a little bit more slowly. Usually on the return trip, I enjoy taking my time. I'm not in a rush, I just want to drive and think about everything that just happened. There is an element of sadness in it, since what you have looked forward to for such a long time is now over. However, there is also a fullness. You have been given great blessings and often seen loved ones, and now you are on your way home.

Of course, Liz and I had the chance to experience this just this past weekend. On Wednesday, we drove out to Hilary Schafer and Clement Bataille's wedding in Lafayette, IN. The wedding was beautiful, particularly since they had been engaged for such a long time, and it was wonderful to see old friends again. All of this really sank in on the return trip, though. It was only at that point that we had enough time to sit quietly and think about everything that was said and done. During the weekend, things just happened too fast to really process. It took silence, and in some sense separation, to really appreciate what had just happened.

The experience of the return trip, though, is hardly unique in life. In some sense, the whole experience of a road trip is like life itself. There is the anxious build up to being an adult when you are young, there are your adult years (which already seem to be going faster and faster right now), and finally in old age you are able to slow down and reflect on what has just happened. This is why old people are so famous for their stories; they have entered into a time of life when reflection has become truly possible. They have become separated from the hustle and bustle of early life, and now they can draw out wisdom from everything that's happened. You know a culture like ours has gone down the wrong path when a period in life like old age, a period for reflection and wisdom, is detested.

Old age and return trips are full of sadness and joy. Both involve a sort of sadness at the end of something good. I've heard old timers talk about raising their families and building their lives with something like sorrow in their voices. They recognize how good those times were, and they know they can never get them back.

At the same time, both return trips and old age are times of great joy as well. Though there is a sadness when you are coming back from a long trip, there is also an anticipation for home. This anticipation is different from the anticipation of going out; it's not so much an anticipation for adventure but rather an anticipation for rest. It's the image of the weary traveler returning home. It's the joy of knowing that your bed lies just a few more miles down the road. Old age certainly seems to have this joy. Like on a return trip, old age brings with it a longing for rest. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing." 2 Timothy 4: 7-8


God gives us these short periods of life (like the return trip) and longer periods of life (like old age) to wonder at His goodness. If he grants me the gift of old age, I do believe I will enjoy it.  Until then, I hope our culture comes to appreciate each period in life - youth, maturity, and old age. Each has a completely unique blessing to offer.