a belated thank you

I don't know about you, but I do a lot of thinking in the car. That's not to say my thinking is always productive or beneficial, but my mind tends to run rampant when I am all alone on the open road (or, to be more accurate, the congested road). I'll often experience small moments of realization, as I did today, when I drove from the hospital where I work on the Southwest side of Chicago to a restaurant on the far North side where I was meeting one of the refugees I have come to know.


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Relative to the city, this is a long haul to make and a drive that I realized my hubby made almost every day for several months back in the Spring of 2007 when I was working at the Center for Student Missions and he was living in North Lawndale (where I now work). When I realized this, more than two years after the fact, I had a really cool "ah ha" moment when I understood how much he loved me...even then. Because take it from me, in order for me to make that drive even twice a month, I have to be en route to some pretty tasty Middle Eastern food (like today, of course). As I reflected on this truth even further, I thought of the many times he would make that drive in the late evening once I had finally wrapped up with students...only to hear about my day and drive home an hour later. Yet in that season, I don't think I ever stopped to fully appreciate that sacrifice; I'm not positive I even thanked him for the countless miles (and gas money) he accumulated just to invest in me during that very important time in my life.

So that's what I did today-I thanked him. As I was sitting on Kedzie Ave. in a line of 100 cars, waiting to get through the intersection, I picked up my phone to say the words that were long overdue. And, true to character, he said "thank you"...as if I was only a day late.