My husband and I are on a two-day trip for the New Year. We will stay in a bed and breakfast tomorrow. Last night we were in a small, off-the-beaten-path, Texas town. We love road trips. With the highway wide open before us, it is fun to hop in the car and just take off down the road. It enables us to unwind and air-out.

Our first stop yesterday afternoon was an old Benjamin Franklin store. As soon as we parked the car and meandered in, enjoying all the “dry goods” on the shelves, I began to feel the tension of the month, weeks, days rolling off my shoulders.

Later we got situated in our place for overnight and found a local Mexican food restuarant for supper. It was the kind of Tex-Mex we had enjoyed in our younger days… and oh, so delicious. Every bite held flavor and memories. We both commented that we couldn’t remember when the last time was that we enjoyed a meal like that.

Today we head for another little Texas town with nothing to do for 24 hours but mozie down the road and enjoy…

That “open highway” feeling is how I feel about the New Year. The days and months be fore us are a gift, and they are wide open, brimming with possibility.

I snapped the above photo at the restaurant last evening. It is a picture of 2009–we are taking something old as we enter something new and unknown. “Feliz Navidad” — Merry Christmas in Spanish — is attached to “open” sign.

Even though Christmas is over, the foundations of our faith and culture go with us in the New Year. They stabalize the unknown, even sweeten the pot because they are familiar and will come again, in new ways and upon new vistas.

So here’s to a New Year for our little family as we venture into the uncharted waters of a another year. May our lives be full of days as we travel the road that is wide open.