Finished!
We are now sitting from the quiet setting of my home in Auburn/Opelika just listening to the gentle sound of the air condition run. What a wonderful feeling. First, it is hard to believe two weeks has gone by…it seems so long ago this started but in some ways just like yesterday. Second, it seems a bit sureal. As we drove the route home today…we laughed as we pointed out places like, “that’s where we got stung by the stinging nettle”, “that’s where we sat to have lunch and meet up with Emily”, and “there’s the one place I had to use the woodline because our trailer was dealing with a flat tire”…and much more. It seemed a bit crazy to think we had walked all those roads, climbed those hills, and smelled all that road kill.
We met incredible people on the way. Most people stopped thinking we had broken down and might need help-so we were able to share what we were doing. A vendor at a hotel, the only one we stayed in, was very interested gave us an extremely good rate and pledged to donate. ( We stayed in a hotel close to the end just to sit in a refreshing pool and sleep a little longer one morning) One person found out we were having lunch at her United Methodist Church and now wants to volunteer with us. I even saw our Command Sergeant Major-CSM Roy Aultman twice along the way…that was way cool. Then there were the youth from Selma and Dothan who plugged in with us during the middle weekend as we walked the Edmund Pettus Bridge and worked in Selma-not to mention my friends, Jason and Meredith, who drove over from Auburn to help us on the Saturday work day.
What did I learn? There were many times while walking that we would pray for the counties we passed through and think about what was happening in their community. There was George in Union Town who helped us scrape a historic post office to prep it for painting. He was so willing to work but talked about there being no jobs in his community. Later that day we saw him working on a roof…it’s really easy to comment on people sitting on their front porch but what else do you do when there are no jobs and you don’t run your AC? The cheese factory in that little town puts out such a horrific smell, it is difficult to be out there-it literally stinks…so what does that say to the people in that little community caught in the fringes?
I so much enjoyed two weeks of fun converation along the roads. Sometimes it was funny-like commenting on some cow or John Deere tractor, or it had significant depth as we discussed insights, our faith, growing up and so much more. I learned so much about my mom and just enjoyed that time. As people joined along the way like Sally and Glenn Granberry who launched with us in Tuskegee, Brad who walked for two days straight until Montgomery, Dave and Sherry who picked up in Selma, and then Emily who joined us near Union Town-I learned more and more and shared stories and thoughts. I am so grateful to our support team Don and Janet who pulled a camper trailer for two weeks. Janet sits in a wheelchair and must use oxygen and Don cheerfully takes care of her. So, it wasn’t a cup cake trip as they dealt with the stop and go travel, living in a camper for two weeks, and the intense heat that climbed into the 100’s daily. And yeah, it only rained two times-only one time were we walking-which meant it was really hot. We are also grateful to our other support driver, Carla, who got roped into this one week prior to the trip. She is one of our Livingston construction coordinators but since they did not have a work team in-I asked her to drive. But, she did so much more as she walked along, shared her vision for what God is calling her to, and took turns driving with my mom.
And then-I can’t forget the churches who fed us or allowed us to stay with them: Tuskegee UMC, Bradford’s Chapel UMC in Shorter, Megan Burritt from Frazer UMC, FUMC Montgomery, Benton UMC, United Methodist Children’s Home, Church Street UMC -Selma, West Highland UMC-Selma, Barrett Road UMC-Selma, Memorial UMC-Selma, Marion UMC, Demopolis UMC, and Livingston UMC. Such a special thanks to all of them.
As this closes up-I must also express my deep thanks to a planning team that spent several months putting this all together: Andi, Marcia, Becky, Dave, Heath, Craig, Beth Ann, and Danielle. What a wonderful bunch who put so much work into making this happen. So what is next? Well, I don’t think we will do this type of walk for awhile-but I will say that the young adult staff is putting together a 4 Day bike tour across Alabama next summer that is the same principle. Our working title is “Cycle of Service” and the tag is ”To End the Cycle of Poverty” You’ll be hearing details in the next few months. I’ll be posting up more pictures of the walk in the next few days-thanks again to everyone!!!!!
God Bless You All- I loved the Walk!!!!
lisa
