Dear Editor,

My wife and I have almost grown to dread the holidays because of the traffic and the rush. People’s attitudes have become so much on edge and there seems to be a spirit of anger among so many that it steals the joy from the season.
You go in a store, and it is like a pushing and shoving contest to see who can be the most rude and aggressive. Very seldom does anyone speak and hardly anyone every says, “Merry Christmas.”
Our daughter invited us to come and spend Christmas with her and her family in Greenville, South Carolina, and we gladly accepted her invitation. So, I decided to make a big change for our trip. Ms. Sweetie does most of the driving these days and I am the official navigator.
I turned off all of our GPS systems, got out my trusty South Carolina road map. I took out my felt marker and marked out our entire trip using only back roads (mainly state highways).
We headed out on Christmas Eve morning and drove through every small town along our way. The traffic was wonderful. When we stopped for restroom breaks as old people do, the people were friendly and everyone speaks to you. The towns were decorated with Christmas and there was a lot of evidence that “Jesus was the Reason for the Season.”
Not once did that woman on the GPS scream and tell us to make a U-turn because we had to use the restroom. We played Christmas carols on the radio, ate plenty of homemade snacks and sang along with the music.
When we arrived at our destination near Greenville our blood pressure was normal, and the entire trip had been very pleasant. We had seen the countryside of South Carolina, witnessed beautiful old homes in just about every town we went through and met some of America’s salt of the earth good folks.
As we began our return trip home, I turned the map upside down the way my mother used to do, and we followed the same route home.

One of life’s important lessons is to learn how to enjoy the journey of life.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Roland & Sweetie Dann

Springfield