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"And in the end, its not the years in your life that count.

Its the life in your years."

-Abraham Lincoln

As you can see, I have safely returned to my new humble abode at 269 Commercial Street in Portland.

I started my travels 3 weeks ago.  A journey that was supposed to be taken with a dear friend, turned into a journey that seemed almost destined for me to take alone.

During our last day in Arizona, Sue told me that I was brave for taking this trip by myself.  I told her some people would say I was foolish.  Here I was, a female in my 30's, driving cross country, by myself, in unknown parts, no real itinerary, and with no one knowing exactly where I was from day to day.  In hindsight, it was probably both brave and foolish.

I cannot describe how truly wonderful my trip was for so many different reasons.  I saw beautiful and magnificent sights, I experienced new things, I met people from all different backgrounds and went wherever the road took me, as they say.  Although I could have spent more time in each of these places if I had flown everywhere instead of driving, I do not regret that decision.  I would have missed out on the breathtaking views and so many unique side excursions.

There is something to be said for taking a long drive by yourself every once in awhile (although I probably took the driving to the extreme).   It gives you time..... something so scarce it seems in every day life.  Time to reflect and time to appreciate what surrounds you.

I used to think that some of my most challenging days were those where I worried about deadlines at work, how many billable hours I had or how much money I was saving.  And although I already knew that all of these things were trivial and unimportant, that fact for me was magnified last September.

Ironic and sad to think that so much clarity can be gained from a tragedy.

When the days seemed difficult last fall I began to choose one thing each day for which I was thankful.  I remember on a drive back to Maine with my parents in late September or early October, my car had a flat tire.  There we were, stranded somewhere outside of Newport on the side of the highway where the next exit was another 4 or 5 miles away.  The three of us were completely exhausted and frustrated.  I looked up at the beautiful sky, turned to my parents and said "today I am thankful that if we had to get a flat tire, it happened during the daytime hours, the sun is shining and that I wasn't alone."

Since those days I have been blessed to have so many things, moments and people in my life to be thankful for.  

I must thank all of you who "donated" to my trip and all of you who faithfully followed along with the blog day after day.  Thanks to those of you who sent emails, texts or posted comments with well wishes.  Thanks to my travel agent, John, who lined up hotels, restaurants and bars for me to visit in many cities.  Thanks to Lori, Alan and Sue for coming out to visit me on part of the trip.  Thanks again to Kramer & Sam for the GPS and to John for the laptop.  My life was made much easier because of both. 

Thanks to those of you who supported my decision to leave the working force for awhile and take this trip.  I am thankful most that I was in a position to create this opportunity for myself and that my travels returned me home safely.

I am not quite sure where my new road will lead me.  I only know that I am about to embark upon a whole new adventure, one that it seems I have been waiting to begin for some time.

Some of you may have heard the story about Lennie making a toast in Prince Edward Island while on a family vacation in 2004.  On one of the last days there we had dinner at a restaurant and Lennie stood and proposed a toast.  The gist of that toast was this.... "It will not be the money, the things I worry about or the tangible things that exist that I will take with me.  It is these moments and these memories that I will take with me in the end."

Adopting that same sentiment, I chose to return with very few souvenirs... only the memory of a truly remarkable experience.