This is an essay Rebekah wrote that won an award back in 2007 when we first moved to Texas.
My Brother and the Bus
“What if I fail algebra? What if I get lost? What if I don’t make any friends?” I wailed disconsolately.
“You’ll be fine,” my brother assured me. “You’ll be a diligent student, and you will enjoy meeting new people.”
We were sitting on the bus, on our cross country trip, so I could go to college on the other side of the country. I had planned to go by myself on the plane, but then Isaac had gotten the idea of coming with me. Why not make the journey by bus, see the country, and really have an adventure? So off we went.
Nearly two years before our bus trip, Isaac had been commuting from home while earning his college degree. As the bus rolled away from everything familiar in the Midwest, I thought about a conversation that we had had at that time. Isaac had recommended that I should consider going to college away from home because I was too comfortable in my familiar surroundings and because I needed to be pushed outside my comfort zone if I wanted to soar. I had begun to think for some time; perhaps he was right.
Isaac had been on a long bus trip before and had about eight books packed to my one. There we sat, he reading and I staring out the window having a last look at familiar roads. He was quite absorbed in his books, so much so that whenever I would spot something remotely interesting, he did not have his camera ready until we had passed it.
When we got to Chicago, we had a disagreement. The bus was late, and we did not know when it would arrive. Isaac thought we ought to get something to eat since we had time, but I adamantly disagreed. What if the bus came while we were in line at the food court and we missed it?
Pulling out of Chicago about an hour later, I stared into my lunch bag and wished I had something more substantial than trail mix. I stubbornly persisted in thinking that it was a good thing we had not stopped to buy lunch. After all, the bus could have come earlier. I weakened a bit upon hearing the woman in front of us complain about how the buses in Chicago are always late. At St. Louis, Isaac again insisted that we should get something to eat, and this time I agreed.
However, our bus trip from Chicago to St. Louis had been delayed; therefore, we just barely made it onto the bus with only one chicken sandwich between us because that was all we had time to purchase in our haste.
We were in such a hurry that we wondered for a few moments if we had caught the correct bus. Isaac says I panic too easily. I suppose I may. I like to have everything planned out to the smallest detail, and I sometimes have difficulty adjusting when things have to change. That tendency to avoid change was one of the reasons I had wanted to attend a college in my hometown. I would still be able to live at home, and I would be around most of my friends.
I am beginning to believe that Isaac’s assessment of the situation almost two years ago was correct. I would have been fine if I had stayed with my original college choice since I still would have the experience granted by the higher learning process and would have earned a degree. However, I would have been surrounded with a sense of comforting familiarity that could have become stifling. Isaac was right in pointing out that since I already knew so many people who would be there, I probably would not make as much effort as I could to reach out and to take advantage of all opportunities.
Sometimes, we need to be transplanted in order to grow properly. The trip we made wasn’t just in miles or from one region of the country to another. I didn’t just leave behind my old home, but I left a period of my life forever. For the next few years there will be college and then probably working for a living for a long period of time. I will have more responsibility for the rest of my life, which will involve continually stepping outside of where I feel comfortable and taking the risks involved in trying something different, maybe even more daring than riding a bus across the country.
A full day after we had started, we reached Elk City, Oklahoma, and stopped at a little gas station and diner in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Isaac again insisted that we buy something to eat because it might be our last chance. I resisted, saying that we could buy something to eat at one of our later stops and that they would probably just have greasy diner food. It was greasy diner food as I had predicted, but Isaac was correct that it was the last place we were able to get food.
We finally arrived in Odessa safely, although ravenously hungry by that time, since we had not eaten much of anything since supper the night before we left. I noticed how different the landscape was from what I was used to, and I began to think about some of the changes that were taking place in my life. I wasn’t sure how I felt about some of the changes, but like it or not, my life was never going to be the same.
Changes can be frightening, but they can be exciting as well. Life can be an adventure if we allow it to be. The bus trip was a good ice breaker to acquaint myself with the idea that it is all right to try something I have never considered doing before. I think my experiences on that trip and at college for the next two years will serve as good preparation for when I transfer and go someplace new in two years. The rest of my life is a new adventure.
While I am not certain I want to make a cross country trip by bus again any time soon, it was very interesting and I learned a bit about myself because of it. The trip was definitely an adventure, and I gained more confidence and became more willing to have new experiences.
So far, I am beginning to think Isaac was right about college, too. By not having a safety net of friends and a familiar area, I have been forced to assert myself and take opportunities to meet people and to be involved in the community. As Isaac had predicted, college coursework does not have to be overwhelming for the diligent student.
Beyond all the other things I learned on the trip, I think Isaac was correct on another point: when on an adventure, eat whenever possible.
–Rebekah Karth
