my constant companion

It's Saturday.  I have been home for 1 week and I am packing again.  I leave tomorrow for a week long meeting @ Washington Family Ranch and a day or 2 in Portland.  Sometimes it seems that I live more out of my suitcase than not.  This little brown carry-on has been a constant companion of mine.

Whenever I fly I carry-on.  In October I flew to Virginia for a work meeting.  I carried-on and flew from Seattle to Atlanta and then to Roanoke.  When I boarded the plane in Seattle, there wasn't enough overhead room for all the bags, so they gate checked my carry-on.  The only problem was that they gate checked my bag to Marilyn Reynolds, who was headed from Seattle to Orlando via Atlanta.  When I arrived in Roanoke, my bag was on its way to sunny Orlando with my surname twin, Marilyn.  Delta rectified the situation and my bag arrived @ Rockbridge 24 hours later, about half way through my 2 day trip.  Many people asked me why I didn't just carry my luggage on-assuming a checked bag to be the reason for the mix up.  Some travel advice: Be flexible & patient, the airline can still lose your bag, even when you carry-on!

Together this bag and I have gone to:

• Malibu, BC
• Olympia, WA
• Atlanta, GA
• Denver, CO
• Colorado Springs, CO
• Buena Vista, CO
• Phoenix, AZ
• Roanoke, VA
• New York, NY
• Porland, OR
• Corvallis, OR
• Antelope, OR
• Anchorage, AK
• San Diego, CA

All of these trips have occurred in the last 16-18 months.   It's a little overwhelming, but mostly I am grateful.  Grateful to have visited the places and people in each of these locations.  To have the means an opportunities to travel.  Grateful to be on this adventure with God never knowing who or how or when I will experience an opportunity to know and make known my true Constant Companion.