We drove from Worland to Cedar City, Utah! We are exhausted. But it gave me a lot of time to think.
I’m always a little sad to leave Worland because I do have some good memories of the place. I enjoyed being able to find places to be completely by myself, with not a soul around for hours. I enjoyed the teachers I had in school because I felt like they always challenged me to do my best or least acknowledge that I was trying really hard to do my best. I miss my classmates, who made the between class time fun and interesting.
I thought a lot about how my life would have taken different pathways had I not left my hometown or at least returned to it after college. I would not have been able to deal well with my sexual abuse. The memories are still there, even this past week, so if I were to have to face them every day, I don’t think it would have turned out well. I might not have found Jesus because I wouldn’t have been exposed to the variety of churches that I was exposed to in California. So, there’s a whole lot of “what-ifs” that I had a chance to think about while driving here. And I have now the chance to say good-bye to those “what-ifs”. This trip has offered me closure, in a sense, about my hometown being “home”. But it also has given me a new perspective, one that I will be putting into fiction over the next few months. Just like with my first books, I have a strong feeling that writing this novel will be good therapy for me. It’s time to look forward to a newer beginning in my creative life!
Harry L. Estes 