13 Ways of Looking at a Road Trip: 4, Faces

The face I left at home.

The faces of two adventurers ready for weeks on the road.

The faces of friends with the same name after a year apart.

The faces of family, of women I love.

The faces of a decade-long friendship in a place we love.

The face of a dog who loves views nearly as much as I do.

The face of someone who wishes she'd spent more time on the Konza Prairie when she had the chance.

The face of a happy rider.

The faces of parents who fell in love with a dog.

The face of a mother who wants us closer.

The faces of two generations with with same birthday and so much love.

The face of a dog running free in the Sandhills.

The face of a brother happily going 80 in his new Mustang.

The faces of siblings in our own front yard.

The face of a dog smelling the ocean for the first time.

The face of a woman near the end of one journey and the beginning of another.

But there are other faces unrepresented here. Like those of friends who helped shape me as a writer, a booklover, a student, a professional, a confident woman. Friends who knew me before any of that, who knew me as a girl just entering the world and believed in me when I didn't know what to believe in, who answered questions that I should have known much earlier, who challenged me to think beyond the simple future I had anticipated. Friends who have stayed with me even though we had lost touch. Friends who will forever touch me in more ways than they know. Friends who I hope will be in my life forever, in distance or close at heart and home.

Thank you to everyone who welcomed me back into their lives on this trip and to more that I didn't get to see this time around. This trip was about going forward by going back, and it proved true beyond anything I could have hoped for.