The Scenic Route

My dad loves to tell stories. His enthusiastic tales are packed with animated facial expressions and energetic body language. He devours statistics and can always be counted on for a halftime score with a report that would make Joe Nuxall a tad envious. When he was little, my grandparents would take them on Sunday drives. Life was simpler then. Kids weren't over scheduled, cable didn't exist and families ate dinner together. They picked a destination, got in the car, drove, talked, soaked in the world around them and enjoyed the company of each other. When my dad spoke of his Sunday drive experience, he remembered being stuck in the car with his brother, but I'm quite sure my grandpa was enjoying every minute with his beautiful wife and I know my grandma was equally enjoying having all of her boys together without distractions. As an adult, my dad took us to see the Christmas lights each year and is a huge fan of taking the scenic route or the "long way" home. He tells stories along the way that we've heard time and time again, yet they never seem to get old. I share my dads love of nostalgia and scenic routes and have come to the conclusion that sometimes getting lost is the best way to find your way back home, just make sure you take in the scenery along the way.

Puzzles

Puzzles. I've always enjoyed trying to piece things together. Knowledge, relationships, projects and events. I don't always get it right, but the process is usually similar. Lately I've been trying to stand back and map out my method of madness and I keep coming back to the simplest method I know...putting together a puzzle. I typically begin with the outline of the puzzle, specifically the four corners. Once I work my way past the outside, I work myself in until I reach the center of the puzzle. Only then can I see what I need to see. Seems like a good way to cultivate a friendship. One more puzzling word of note...when you get to the center...stand back and take a good look at the big picture.

Hope

A friend recently asked me to speak about hope. After going gluten free and feeling like a new person, I thought it would be easy to come up with something inspiring. So many wonderful things have happened as a result of my new found energy and awareness of the world around me, but I really had to ponder about the topic of hope. It has been at least one month since I spoke to that group of kids and hope keeps drifting back into my life. I think that all we really need to be happy is to feel our life is meaningful, to feel appreciated and to have hope when we might otherwise give up. What a wise friend I have. Have a hopeful 2010.