Day Twenty-Nine: A Spiritual Journey
We went to church today.
It’s our first stop in church since we left. We had always planned to go in every town we could because what better way to take a snapshot of a community than by attending its weekly religious meeting. Somehow, it was always too hard to find the time, the place, the desire to clean up two scruffy kids and find a shirt that didn’t stink. Our loss.
Truly, in theory and in practice, there is no better way to put your finger on the pulse of the attitudes, attributes, and anxieties of a community than visiting its church.
This church happened to be the one my brother-in-law attends with his wife and daughter. It’s located near their home in a mainline suburb of Philadelphia. It’s beautiful. Full of tradition. Julius sat with us during worship before the kids service began and drew a stunning likeness. The pastor spoke of their various missions, and welcomed a group of chinese university professors who were in attendance at likely their first “traditional” church service. Most churches in China are small gatherings in people’s homes as the practice of it is distinctly frowned upon by the establishment. A middle-aged man with a velvet tenor voice belted out some old hymns. The people were kind…but reserved. It’s a mainline church.
So as I sat in the pew, admiring the space and enjoying the sermon on Truth and Love, I got all introspective about this journey.
It’s been a month now. A month since we hauled our material possessions into a 10×15 storage unit, loaded our Jeep with the mobile office and two kids, and set off to look for America. Along the way, we’ve met with some amazing people both in and out of the marketing/communications industry. From established businesses to fresh start-ups. And even if we’ve neglected the religious services, we’ve tasted a bit of each town we’ve been through.
Our longest stretch by far has been in Northeast. First, because it had always been our destination. Not only geographically but practically. There’s family and friends here who have opened their homes to us and because they are amazing people, would likely keep their doors open to us indefinitely if they had to. But secondly, there’s so much compacted in this region. We’ve been up and down the I-95 corridor and in a space equivalent to the open spaces between Seattle and Olympia we’ve been in three states, two major metropolitan areas (NYC and Philly) and some crazy rural towns.
And we haven’t even thought about Boston yet.
I’ve been asked by nearly everyone I meet, “How long to you plan to continue this journey?”
Generally, I get around the question by saying something like:
“Until it’s over.”
Not because I’m trying to be cute. But because this trek is as much a family vacation/professional excursion as it is a spiritual journey. One can’t live in a car for a month with their family, absorbing the nation, without having an introspective moment of reflection or two. In or out of church.
How much of our life do we dictate by our own choices and how much is fate? What can we control and not control? Where does inspiration come from? Why am I still convinced that their is a larger purpose to this exercise if I still don’t know what it is? Why don’t tollbooth collectors like pennies?
Some folks have said I should turn this journey into a book. I might. I have a good structure, some drama. Folks in the PR world might find it interesting to have this postcard of our industry across the nation during this strange time of no budgets and crazy influx of new social media tools. Still….not sure about the climax or the ending.
I guess I’ll get around to putting it together when it’s over. Whenever that is.
