Yesterday my sister and I had a sudden impulse, or a wild hair, to get away, leave town and head West.  Maybe it’s my West Texas roots, but getting “out of Dodge” for me always seems to mean getting in the car and driving west into the setting sun.  It signifies SPACE to breathe and relax, and FREEDOM to have some fun and find one’s true self.

So, with no particular plan in mind, we headed west and ended up in Brenham, Texas in the middle of the historic town square.  We talked, listened, remembered, laughed, cried, explored, imagined, tried on a few things, and shed a few things.  A favorite moment is captured in the photo above.  We were in the ladies bathroom of the sandwich shop.  Beside the sink was a small collection of old hats….(such a novelty to us since we are not old!).  Perhaps you can tell from the faces whose idea it was to try on the hats, and who went along for the ride with anticipated enthusiasm, and a slight hesitation.

Not only does the photo capture a special moment on a November day in Brenham, even more it captures our whole life together growing up.  We shared a room, and we were very close.  I always came up with the ideas  and she always went along with it.  I honestly don’t ever remember us fighting.  We had a lot of fun!

In addition to the hat style show, we wandered in and out of several places yesterday, leaving a trail of laughter.  My sister found this card…

The memory it contains happened one morning on our trip to Italy together.  I was wearing a certain pair of jeans and announced to her that I was wearing my “sassy pants”.  My definition of that term is really anything that makes us feel a little spunky, free, and unconventional.  It’s sort of the same as getting “out of Dodge”, finding our true selves somewhere outside the everyday ruts of routines.

Happy Trails!

nk