Enjoy the moments in your life. These moments ARE your life!
JULY 8, 2014.
WE’RE GOING TO SLOW DOWN. Over our morning coffee during the last few days, we’ve been discussing the pace of our Journey. We’ve been talking about places we’d planned to visit that we’d need to skip, in order to get to the East Coast by Autumn. It’s dawned on us…gradually, over the course of several weeks, that we’ve been trying to do too much, too quickly. It’s time to slow down and re-group. Our Adventure will suffer if we’re constantly “in a hurry” to get to the next spot. We’d miss the forest for the trees. We’d not have time to smell the roses…we’d be in such a rush that we’d probably not even see ’em in the first place! That certainly wasn’t our intent when we began this Adventure. So, we will still get to the East Coast, for sure. I’d not miss the opportunity to meander down the coastline and visit the little fishing villages, to stop and talk to the Vermonter who’s drawing sap from his maple trees to make syrup… and to walk around Harvard Yard where Dad went to school. We’ll just not do these things as soon as we’d initially planned.
LAST WEEK, WE WERE DRIVING ALONG A COUNTRY ROAD in eastern Washington through a heavily wooded forest. There was a gorgeous river right alongside the road. At every turn, the view would change…in some spots the water was rushing over the rocks and glimmering in the sunshine. In others, it slowed and formed tranquil pools under the trees. I saw a lone fly fisherman in waders casting his line into the water. A mile or so down the road we passed a little country store…I’m certain there were treasures inside just waiting to be discovered! I remember saying to Florence, “I sure wish we had time to stop for awhile. I’d like to set up my chair in that spot by the river and sit in the sun for an hour or two reading a good book. I’d also like to visit that little country store. I wonder how the owner makes a living there…doesn’t look as if he’d have enough business to even make ends meet. It would be interesting to talk with him.”
SO HERE’S THE PLAN: WE’RE GOING TO “START STOPPING.” I am going to sit by the river and watch the water splash over the rocks. I am going to talk to the owner of that little country store and learn how things work in his world. I am going to learn how the farmer in Vermont makes maple syrup. Who knows, perhaps I’ll meet Christopher Kimball and he’ll invite us to dinner in his farmhouse. He’ll probably make scratch biscuits on a wood burning stove! How cool would that be?
We’re in Boise, Idaho. Rather than packing up and barreling down the road this morning as we’d planned, we’re going to stay for
a couple of weeks and re-group. We’ll get out our maps, fire-up our laptops and plot a new course across America… a slower one so we’ll have have time to really experience our Great American Adventure. And come to think of it, I’m going to stop at the Cabela’s Outfitters Store on the way out of town. I think it’s time to buy some of that fishing gear I’ve been wanting, ’cause I’m going to take the time to do some of that fishing I’ve been wanting to do for so long. I’ve been saying for years that I always wanted to learn to fly-fish…there’s not a better place in the country to do it than Idaho. Now’s the time. I’m going to spend the time. We’re going to slow down. After all, “What’s the rush?”
