Instead of driving to Iowa City last night and spending a night in the hotel, I chose to stay at the cabin one more night, save the cost of the hotel room and drive out of there bright and early this morning. Well, that was an interesting decision to make based on the circumstances of the morning!
I set the alarm for 4:15, promptly woke up at 2:15 and drowsed for a couple of hours. At 3:30 or so, I heard thunder and saw lightning, but the rain wasn't terrible. I needed to be on the road about 4:45 ... being on time for me means being at least 15 minutes early. At 4:35 the rain was unleashed in mighty forces upon the earth! What? Fortunately, I had put most of my stuff in the car last night so all I had to grab was my laptop (it has a leather bag, no worries), my purse and the cookies. I dashed out and in the 10 feet from the cabin to the Jeep, I was drenched all the way through. This didn't bode well.
For the next 1/2 hour I was driving through the hardest driving rainstorm I've been in since last May. It was incredible. And it was DARK! I kept praying for the sun to rise and since I wasn't going to wake Max up to ask him what time that was going to bed, I was just in the dark (yup ... that's what I said). I couldn't have taken the distraction to call him anyway! About half a mile from the cabin I saw bright eyes, stopped the Jeep so that a gorgeous buck with a huge rack could pass in front of me and headed for the highway. I drove and drove through the rainstorm thinking that if I had to deal with that for the next 3 hours I was going to just fade away and forget it. By the time I got to the Interstate, my fingers were in pain from gripping the steering wheel, my knuckles were white and my shoulders were taut. I began driving south and within five miles the rain let up and it was as if I'd never been in a storm at all. The rest of the drive was beautiful and I got to the church in plenty of time.
As I drove on Highway 6 through Iowa City, it finally hit me that I knew exactly where I was and exactly where I was going. Though it has been 26 years since we lived in West Liberty and before that in Sigourney, I was in my home territory. This is where we shopped, this is where my cousins lived, this is home! I pulled in feeling pretty happy.
The Greek in a Week class is a small group. I suppose there aren't too many crazy people that want to kill their brains in a short period of time. The professor is incredibly brilliant - its fun to watch his mind process on things. The morning filled up my brain, it took a moment for lunch and I have to admit that by the end of the afternoon, I was pretty close to panicked. I have a desperate passion for ancient languages and understanding scripture and early church fathers in the original languages and I get really worried that at my age my brain isn't agile enough to process all of the information in an orderly manner so that I can learn this stuff. Yup ... panic.
Don't worry ... I'll move past it. Giving up is not something I want to do.
This evening I decided that I was going to fully treat myself. Dinner by myself at Iowa River Power Company. I don't often eat by myself, but hey ... I didn't think to make plans with people and I really wanted to go somewhere and not have to think of anything at all, just allow them to take care of me. And they really did. I was seated so that I had a perfect view of the water rushing by:
The waitress took great care of me - she was so calm and sweet and peaceful, I felt like I had entered a spa and was having all my needs met. The food was extraordinary and I was able to just sit back and allow my mind to melt around me a bit. I read a little on my Kindle, watched the pigeons (oh yah - two were making out by my window ... hmmmm, that's a first for me), loved the force of the water moving and calmed myself.
I'm back in my room. The air conditioner is running as high and as cold as I can get it. I plan to snuggle under those covers tonight and sleep like a baby. Tomorrow is another intense day, but I can hardly wait! We're going to start digging into the first chapters of the Gospel of John ... in Greek!!!
I love learning.
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