Daily Good Start : The Road Less Traveled

It's only fitting that words like miles and travel are somehow incorporated into this Daily Good Start. I've had the opportunity to go from Rutgers University to the University of Alabama then over to the University of Georgia then Georgia Tech. After Georgia Tech I sweated my face off in Phoenix at the University of Arizona, BUT had the opportunity to lay out poolside in October which is prit-ty epic. After the University of Arizona, I drove twelve hours to San Francisco and am about to head north to Eugene, Oregon. After my last event at the University of Oregon, I still have to travel to Dallas then Milwaukee and then finally home.

The above paragraph has no purpose, I'm just showing off.

Now to the good stuff.

Go the extra mile in life, it is truly the road less traveled.

I had a tight deadline to drive from Atlanta to Phoenix, it got even tighter when the tour truck broke down in NOWHERESVILLE, Texas. You know Nowheresville Texas, it's on Route 20 about 70 miles from civilization.

I knew that I'd be passing right through Lordsburg, NM. It's a small dusty town where my grandma lives and my parents are from. Knowing that I'd be passing through, a few days prior I had picked up an extra copy of my brother's book to give to my grandma. I had visualized how it would all go down and how awesome it would be to surprise her with a visit. As the road signs started announcing that I was getting closer to Lordsburg, I had thoughts of just bypassing. I was SERIOUSLY short on time, but about 20 miles out an inner voice said go for it. I did. Mind you, I only spent 20 minutes with my grandma and uncle, but the hugs, conversation and homemade breakfast burrito were totally worth it.

Then there was the quick overnight stay in El Paso. Once again, short on time and energy, I decided to alert my almost brother Brett that I'd be in his neck of the woods. He was on text standby for about six hours. I got into town, we shared one (ok maybe two) drinks, a few stories, and a serious laugh out loud moment. Right after that (due to social media), I saw that my friend Christian was in El Paso touring for Blue Man Group. A quick text prefacing my window of meet up opportunity and he was there. Once again, we were limited on time, but the quick hello and catching up was perfect.

Word traveled quick that I would be at the University of Arizona, the mecca of my extended family. My phone started blowing up by cousins, aunts and uncles to meet up. Mind you, I'm there for work. Serious work, like everything going smoothly weighs all on me work. Anxiety took over. I wanted to see everyone, but I knew my window would be small. What did my incredible family do? They battled their way through drunk tailgaters to see me for about 30 minutes. Big hugs were flowing all around. It was perfect. It was brief, but it was perfect.

I'll be the first to say that I've lived a life of non-yolo-ing (mom, yolo means You Only Live Once). I've done the "I'm exhausted, I have no time, my truck broke down, my schedule doesn't permit, I'm slammed, blah blah blah" which has all been true but (in almost all instances) those crazy detours of going the extra mile compounds to miles of happiness.

Seeing my grandma light up when I handed her Daniel's book was priceless. I know in that moment my dad was smiling down on me going "that's my girl".

The moment the Rodriguez/Sema clan showed up with bells and whistles to say hello was priceless.

That time that I saw Brett sing karaoke and get hit on by a drunk 40-something gay dude that managed an Applebee's. Priceless.

The extra mile could mean an out of the blue text message, picking up a souvenir, bringing home dinner, paying for a flight out to visit, tickets to a concert, bringing over soup for a sick friend, or a quick phone call to say hello on your lunch break....it could be a hundred other things....but you know once you've gone the extra mile because a smile will go from ear to ear and a memory will be forever embedded.