Content to Stay Home

As I was walking through the parking lot towards work this morning, I was noticing how much Alabama and Auburn signage was in plain view from cars, trucks and vans at the school. It made me wonder how many of those vehicles belonged to alumni from either the University of Alabama or Auburn, so I started to look at the parking tags to see if they were staff or student tags. Most were student tags and it was clear that the majority of community college students are not also alumni from four year universities.

That started me thinking about traveling and how it seems like almost everywhere I have lived, the majority of people living there where natives. Growing up in a military family has made me curious about those who have lived in one place all of their life. There are those that have always lived in one city/town, many with generations of their family living within blocks of their homes and, most shocking to me, there are many of these people that are happy about it! 

I cannot begin to imagine having lived in one place all my life or having family close enough to "chunk a rock at".  These are foreign concepts which make me wonder again about how anyone could be happy without traveling the world and seeing what else is out there.

I don't get to travel much anymore and in many ways would like my kids to have a stable foundation for a home, but frankly, I would be disappointed if I was unable to offer them the opportunity to travel and see what else is out there. Most importantly, I would be heartbroken if they lost the desire to see more of the world. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it is bad thing, just a different way of thinking. 

I treasure the fact that I have been able to experience different places and cultures and believe that the person I am today is largely related to experiencing diverse people and places.

Parallels of Nature

When I look around me...no really look around carefully, I notice the simplistic geometry of nature. As with these trees which grow next to the kid's school line the horizon with parallel lines gracefully reaching for the sky, nature is full of symmetry which tends to induce a calming affect. Take a note of the geometry of nature and tell me which type of scene brings you more peace: the flowing concentric circles after a pebble has broken the surface of a pond or the explosion of spray as a speedboat races by? It is not always at the top of our minds, but really look around you some time as you are chilling in your favorite spot and see what the parallels of nature have to offer.