The Holidays

This page is not about my walk across America. I took the months of December and January off from the walk and just enjoyed spending some time with friends and family. For those of you who are interested in just the tom part of walkingtom.com, I have put together a brief holiday page to explain what I have been doing the past couple of months while I have not been walking across America.

Iowa:

From Hot Springs, Tom and his wife, Danette, took me to Little Rock, and I bought a bus ticket to Waverly, Iowa, for Thanksgiving. There is nothing that I really enjoy much about a twenty-four hour Greyhound bus ride (except for the quality of people watching opportunities at Greyhound bus stations, but even that gets old after a few hours). However, I did enjoy seeing my parents, my sister and her family, and I always enjoy a trip to my hometown.

Because geographical reasons limit the amount of times a year that my family is able to gather together, we celebrated Christmas two days after Thanksgiving again this year. Christmas in Waverly would just not be Christmas in Waverly if it didn't involve the familiar hunt and epic quest for the perfect tree with my sister Karen. This is the time that I get to spend with family wandering in "the woods" while driving around to different "cut your own" Christmas tree farms - which is just fine with me but kind of cold this year. Although we didn't find the perfect tree this year, we did find one that worked just fine.

After Thanksgiving and my family's late-November observance of Christmas, I spent another week in Waverly and became a part of my sister's family, much like I have had the opportunity to become a part of the families who have adopted me along my journey. I have only been able to see my niece (Naomi) and nephew (Josiah) once a year for the past few years, so I was happy to stay in Waverly awhile.

Naomi and Josiah are at that age when one year brings with it so many changes. Naomi is in junior high now. There are moments when I am propelled back to the reality of how fast time passes and how old I am. Seeing Naomi today in junior high, remembering when she was just a baby, and thinking, "it wasn't all that long ago", brings moments of that sort. Although I can't do much about the speed in which time seems to pass, I was at least able to escape the reality of how old I am. My nephew acquired a new Star Wars computer game for Christmas, and we spent many hours trying to save Queen Amidala from the evil empire. We never did defeat the evil Darth Maul at the end of the game, but when I left Waverly, I placed the task of overcoming Darth into the hands of my young Jedi nephew much like in the movie. Josiah is at that age where you can say, "Jo, why don't you spread that bar-b-que sauce all over your face so I can get a picture of you," and he will be more than happy to do it.

Minnesota:

While I was in Iowa, I saw my good friend Brian who was also visiting his family in Iowa. He invited me up to Minneapolis for a visit, and I decided to take him up on his offer. I spent a week in Minneapolis with Brian and his wife, Tonya, and their two cats, Simon and Romeo. It was an unexpected pleasure to find myself in Minneapolis with Brian, seeing where he lives and what his life is like nowadays. We grew up together in Iowa, but since I don't find myself in Minnesota very often these days, I consequently haven't seen Brian very often since high school. I am at a unique time in my life when being gratefully unemployed offers me the extra time to do things like visit some good friends in Minneapolis. I'd like to hope that I will always have the time to do things like that.

I also was able to see my friend Mel who has also relocated to Minneapolis. Mel and I used to play in a band together during our first two years of college at Iowa State We spent his days off from work and school browsing thrift stores, playing backgammon, and most of the time just talking and laughing. We have something new in common these days in that we are both evolving into computer geeks and enjoying it. Mel is wearing the transformation into a computer geek well and studying hard to become a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.

On December 14th, I celebrated six months of continuous sobriety by spending yet another day without finding it necessary to drink alcohol. Today I can say, "But for the grace of God go I," and know what it means. I don't know how many people who read this page understand the severity of what my alcoholism had become, but the fact is that if the grace of God had not entered my life to remove the compulsion to drink, I would be well on my way to being hospitalized, institutionalized, or dead. Today, I understand what it feels like to be living on borrowed time, and to be grateful for the opportunity to truly Live. All of the things that used to seem like such big deals don't seem like such big deals anymore simply because I get to live another day sober and with God.

So, what I thought was my biggest liability in the past has actually turned out to be an asset today. Sometimes a person needs to be completely broken down to see the essential need that we all have for a relationship with God and the continuing maintenance of our spiritual condition. I guess that I am one of those people. The nature of being a recovering alcoholic also includes a bonus - the reality that I can at any time return that gift of grace, take matters into my own hands, and return to the miserable existence that I once had. This fact greatly reinforces and ever reminds me (in a very simple, easy to understand, and practical sense) of the essential need that I have for a relationship with God and the continuing maintenance of my spiritual condition. You see, I don't want to go back, and I don't have to. Like I said, what I thought was my biggest liability has become an asset. What a great day it is to finally understand. It's a good day to be alive.

Oklahoma:

After a week in Minneapolis, I purchased a bus ticket back to Hot Springs, Arkansas, and the nice lady at the Greyhound bus ticket counter routed my return trip through Ponca City, Oklahoma, so that could spend Christmas and New Year's with my adopted family and friends that live there. She didn't have to do that, and I greatly appreciated it. The bus ride was a bit rough though. Always try to avoid Greyhound bus trips around the holiday season. Actually, as a rule you should always try to avoid Greyhound bus trips, but especially during the holidays. I learned many invaluable lessons in tolerance and patience on that trip, and because the trip was so long with so many delays, I continued to get the chance to practice what I had learned over and over and over. It was a character builder for sure.

As the bus finally pulled in to Ponca City, I felt this strange feeling that I was riding into my hometown. That seemed very odd to me because one year ago I did not know a single person in the entire state of Oklahoma, and today Ponca City feels like my hometown. It felt very strange indeed, but in a good way. Roger picked me up at the bus station, and we went home.

The family that took me in from the cold almost a year ago and dressed me up in a Confederate soldier's uniform the first night that I stayed with them has now branched out into doing World War II impressions as well. Roger has gathered together a group of young men to portray the 2nd Rangers Battalion, a unit that played a critical part in D-day at Normandy. Lila and Mandy have also joined in the fun and acquired some really sharp WAC uniforms.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to go out on a scheduled mission with the men on New Year's Day because I had my own y2k bug (the virus that about the whole state of Oklahoma experienced at some point this winter) to contend with that had me in bed and out of commission. I did, however, get a chance fire Roger's M1 rifle one evening.

My relationship with this family in Ponca City that I usually refer to as "my adopted family" has not only become a bright spot on my trip, it has become a bright spot in my life. They have shown me so much kindness and love over the past year of my life, it sometimes seems unbelievable to me. When I tell them that I can see how much God has been able to work through them in my life, they tell me that God has been able to do the same through me. It is at times like this when I experience incredible moments of clarity, and life just makes sense.

On my way back to Hot Springs, I stopped in Mannford, Oklahoma, to visit someone that I met last fall at Osage Hills State Park near Bartlesville. (For those of you following along, it's the guy with the extravagant camper near the end of Oklahoma Part III). I spent a few days here in Mannford with Kevin and his family (I mean the whole family - I met his mom, brother, sister, brother-in-law, mother-in-law, niece, and, of course, his wife and two boys), and it has been a great way to finally finish this extended holiday break that I have been enjoying. Kevin and his family are all extremely nice folks. Although they have asked me to stay longer, the weather forcast is full of promises for comfortable walking conditions, and it has come time to walk again. I am leaving for the Greyhound bus station and returning to Hot Springs as soon as I finish this paragraph. I guess that means now.