{"id":2331,"date":"2011-12-22T07:03:58","date_gmt":"2011-12-22T12:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=2331"},"modified":"2011-12-22T07:13:33","modified_gmt":"2011-12-22T12:13:33","slug":"christmas-travel-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/christmas-travel-time.html","title":{"rendered":"Christmas travel time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>One of my close friends said to us as we were discussing her travel plans over the holidays, \u201cDon\u2019t feel sorry for me.\u00a0 I love my travel time.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to drive; I\u2019m going to fly.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to fight traffic.\u00a0 I\u2019m not responsible for the flight.\u00a0 I can get to the airport early and have a leisurely breakfast of gooie cinnamon buns without feeling guilty because that\u2019s the healthiest thing in the airport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of my day is spent in travel time and I have to agree with her.\u00a0 I sit in an air conditioned car with comfy\u00a0pilot chairs and\u00a0a great sound system.\u00a0 I can listen to the radio, play a CD or listen to a book.\u00a0 Anything I\u00a0desire and enjoy it.\u00a0 When I\u2019m on the\u00a0road, I can eat nothing, eat healthy or eat greasy fried chicken.<\/p>\n

I remember my mother always made our family feel as though we would be entering a torture chamber when we entered the car on vacation.\u00a0 In reality, I have fond memories of my brother punching me, my sister\u2019s complaints and my constant whining.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why she thought it was a miserable experience.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve learned a lot from the members of The Special Gathering. \u00a0As people who are mentally challenged, they don\u2019t drive.\u00a0 Therefore, they spend a lot of time waiting for their rides and riding public transporation.\u00a0 By and large, they are happy to have time with their friends without having to answer to parents, caregivers\u00a0or bosses.\u00a0\u00a0 They laugh and talk and sing on the bus.\u00a0 The philosophy often seems to be\u00a0if you can\u2019t change it, enjoy it.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After a few years of observing their patience in regard to their daily busing adventure, I slowly shed my mother\u2019s anticipation of uncomfortable travel and replaced it with a more realistic view of journeying from here to there.<\/p>\n

Today, I\u2019m traveling with my granddaughter to \u00a0DC after a few days in Virginia.\u00a0 I\u2019m remembering six years ago my grandson, Sebastian, was logging miles\u00a0toward his needed mileage goal to get his\u00a0full-time license\u00a0by driving us from South Carolina.\u00a0 He drove too fast and though we scolded him, my husband and I loved every minute of it.<\/p>\n

The mission of our ministry of Special Gathering is to evanglize and disciple people who are intellectually delayed.\u00a0 But too often they are discipling me.\u00a0 In fact, there are many things I\u2019ve learned from our members but one of the best is enjoying travel time.\u00a0 If you are still dreading your time traveling, shed the tension and grief.\u00a0 Learn from the members of the mentally challenged community.\u00a0 If you can\u2019t change it, enjoy them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my close friends said to us as we were discussing her travel plans over the holidays, \u201cDon\u2019t feel sorry for me.\u00a0 I love my travel time.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to drive; I\u2019m going to fly.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to fight traffic.\u00a0 I\u2019m not responsible for the flight.\u00a0 I can get to the airport…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,334,3,40,186,49,16,8,4],"tags":[690,21,688,739,699,715,701,694,689,6],"class_list":["post-2331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-christmas","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-christmas","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-simple-scriptural-truths"],"yoast_head":"\nChristmas travel time - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/christmas-travel-time.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas travel time - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of my close friends said to us as we were discussing her travel plans over the holidays, \u201cDon\u2019t feel sorry for me.\u00a0 I love my travel time.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to drive; I\u2019m going to fly.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to fight traffic.\u00a0 I\u2019m not responsible for the flight.\u00a0 I can get to the airport…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/christmas-travel-time.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-22T12:03:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-22T12:13:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/12\/car-for-Christmas-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Christmas travel time - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/christmas-travel-time.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Christmas travel time - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"One of my close friends said to us as we were discussing her travel plans over the holidays, \u201cDon\u2019t feel sorry for me.\u00a0 I love my travel time.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to drive; I\u2019m going to fly.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to fight traffic.\u00a0 I\u2019m not responsible for the flight.\u00a0 I can get to the airport…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/christmas-travel-time.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2011-12-22T12:03:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-12-22T12:13:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/12\/car-for-Christmas-150x150.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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