Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The Other Side of the Freeway

We drive the stretch of I-15 between Mesquite and Kaysville several times a year, so I'm pretty sure I have the whole thing memorized. I can tell you what it looks like at any given mile marker as well as how far you are from Cedar City, Fillmore, or Nephi. Honey Bear could probably drive it without his glasses in a snowstorm.

But what I've never really thought about is how different everything looks from the other side of the freeway. As we were coming down a hill on one of our more recent drives, I looked around and said, "Oh, my heck, this is THAT hill, the last one you drive over before you get to Beaver!" For whatever reason, that spot had made more of an impression on the southbound trip, but that didn't change the fact that it was THE SAME SPOT.

I've thought a lot about it since that day, and while I haven't come to any earth-shattering conclusions, I thought I'd share it with you. Sometimes, we don't even have to move to gain a fresh perspective; we just have to turn around.

6 comments:

Suze said...

I like this, Krista. Happy New Year and may 2014 bring many refreshing views of the world.

Maria said...

Perfect last post of the year. Thanks for sharing this insight!

Anonymous said...

Love this post. "We just have to turn around." So simple, yet so insightful. Wishing you all the best in 2014.

Unknown said...

Maybe I should start writing my stories backwards. I have to read them that way to try to pick out mistakes.

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Thank you very much, Suze. Right back at you!

You're welcome, Maria. Thanks for commenting!

It's amazing, ocdtalk, how different (read: more hopeful) things can look when you just look at them a different way. I need to do better with that.

Karen, there's definitely something to be said for mixing up writing routines. If I'm stuck in a rut, trying something new always breaks me out.

Myrna Foster said...

When we drove that way for Thanksgiving, we didn't hit road construction. Not once. It felt surreal.

Happy 2014! I'm excited to meet this year's characters (yours and mine). I love how something small (like hearing a song or driving past a house I used to visit) can spark something that helps me flesh out a character. Great post!