Originally, I was going to fly out to LA and we were gonna drive cross country together. A kind of brother bonding bit. Unfortunately I was not able to work out the details - work issues prevented me from being able to do it. But there was one phone conversation he and I had right around Christmas, when he was getting really fed up with the situations at his house and in his life.
You see, my brother and I are what people call "Nice Guys." We are the guys that are the shoulder that is cried on when a person is hurting. The back that holds up the weight of someone else's problems. And in doing so, we often times are walked over, and mistreated, by the same people that we are trying to save from pain. And he and I often have to be sounding boards for each other so that we keep from saying all the hurtful things we sometimes think and feel. We joke about what we should say to a person, knowing full well that we would never actually say those things. It just helps us to deal, like writing that letter to the person and then never sending it, just to get the emotion off your chest. I think that because we have to keep so much in ourselves, that it can create outrageous ideas and impulses.
When my brother was talking to me about how the pressures at and around where he was living were getting to him, I suggested that he just get in his car and drive across the country to GA and surprise our folks on Christmas or at least Christmas weekend. Naturally, he was hesitant to do that. My argument to him was this - you are already traveling across the country, no matter what, that much is certain. But how many people can say that they packed up everything they wanted to keep in their lives, hopped in their car/truck, and made that trip by themselves? Just you against the road.
Granted, a lot of people, back in the day can stake that claim, but today? Not many people would attempt that, not even small trips. People think that they need safety nets and bumper guards. But I bet, if you tried to drive across the country, on your own, and something did happen, you'd find that deep down in the heart of it, all people are helpful. My brother's argument was that he was unsure of whether or not his truck could make it. My counter was that if it didn't make it, I'd bet that there would be someplace near where it died that he could pick up a rental truck and swap out his stuff, and scrap the truck and keep on truckin'.
That is what I would do. That is what I want to do. When I moved to Maryland back in 2001. My parents and I drove all the way across the southern US, and up the east coast, my mom and dad in my mom's Volvo, and me in my dad's truck, the very same truck that my brother is taken across that same stretch of road. And as we were making that trip, I made a mental plan that I would circumnavigate the contiguous US one day, maybe not all in one go, but I would definitely be able to say that I have driven through all of the perimeter states. I will make that happen. And although it is always more fun to have someone there with to explore and have fun, when the time comes for me to make this trip, whether or not I have someone to go with, I will make this dream a reality.
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