Back on the road after spending the last week visiting my brother in West Virginia, I was asked what my favorite part of the trip was. After thinking out loud about how hanging out with my family, the good food, and the many conversations were all a good time for me.

But as I look at the rolling hills and grayish-blue skies in West Virginia, I’m realizing that I’m still having the best part of my trip right now! I’m in a vessel with people I love, talking and laughing. And it seems like every time I look up, the landscape has changed. Even with 11 or so hours left to go, and frustration, restlessness, and few dozen are-we-there-yets par for the course.

The process of living for right now is still a work in progress for me. The good part is, the more aware I am that the future has taken priority over the present, the easier I find it to slow down and take life as it comes.

So while on this trip I have no doubts that more laughs and a few more good stories are still on the horizon. Mile after mile, through every state on the way home, I think I’m still having the best part of this trip.