WALKING ROUTE 66

There Is More Than One Joplin

It’s a small world, after all.

What a pleasant surprise I woke up to.

I love sunrises. They have a different vibe than sunsets. Most people haven’t seen a sunrise because they are still in bed. If you are one of those people, I would like to challenge you to get up early tomorrow morning to watch the sun come up. It will be worth it; trust me.

Now, if that wasn’t enough, as I turned around, there it was.

No, that is not a painting; that’s what I saw as I turned around after taking the first picture. There is beauty everywhere if we slow down enough to notice.

I was in touch with someone I met on Couchsurfing, who was willing to store my stroller while I go back to Houston. As the day progressed, it seemed like the timing and location weren’t going to work out. There was still the possibility that I may be able to store it at the mosque.

Joplin is only three miles from Webb City, and it took me only an hour to get to a place where I had to make a decision. Go east toward Greyhound and find a storage unit I can rent for a week, or go southwest toward the mosque with equal uncertainty. I followed my intuition and moved south.

I got a call from Dr. Ahmed. He invited me to dinner, said we could discuss what to do with the stroller then. I had to stop and seek shelter at a Hardee’s as it started to rain. Dr. Ahmed picked me up from there and took me to his place. I met Mrs. Ahmed, who said that I am welcome to leave the stroller in their garage if I wanted to.

Dinner was delicious with homecooked Pakistani dishes like Haleem, Biryani, and Aloo Gosht. It turned out we had more in common than being from the same city and country. We shared the love of Urdu literature and poetry, and Mrs. Ahmed’s parents were old clients of my brother, who makes marble, onyx, and granite merchandise for businesses and upper-class homes.

It’s a small world, after all. I sat and talked and laughed till late at night before getting some sleep.

As I think back and ponder.

As Mike Garrett, whom I met at the Oasis Travel Center, said, “There are no strangers, only friends we haven’t met yet.” I found that to be true again.

Stay blessed and be happy, my friends.

Day 51: Joplin, Missouri (Original blog post).

Just for fun.

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Rasheed Hooda is a published author who has contributed to many of Medium’s top Publications; The Startup, The Ascent, P.S. I Love You, Rogues’ Gallery, and ILLUMINATION, to name a few. He is also a Top Writer for several topics. If you like his work, buy him a coffee, he drinks a lot of it.