Brushing off the cobwebs...

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted here. We are planning two trips at the moment - the first time we've ever had more than one working at a time. We were talking the other day about how much we love to go and explore, and how much I love to talk about it. So I have an obligation that will last me a couple more weeks, but then I'd really like to get back to wandering. See y'all in a couple of weeks.

Bring the Tropics Home...

I love the summer.

I love the heat and the colors and the sounds. I love going barefoot and shirtless. I love working outside and cooking outside and playing outside. Most of all, I love the smells.

The smells of summer seem to reach deep into my brain. I smell jasmine and I remember summertime, 1970. Songs come floating on the wind, from almost four decades ago. I can see the fort in the backyard and the kids from down the street.

When I smell plumeria, I'm back in the airport on Maui. I'll never forget my wife's reaction when we walked through the open-air airport and smelled the flowers - the smell is everywhere, and every time I smell it I go back.

When I smell Coppertone suntan lotion, I go back to the beach. When I smell watermelon, it's the Fourth of July again. Other seasons have their smells: There's cut-grass and wildflowers in the spring. Winter has evergreens and apple-cinnamon. Autumn is damp leaves and pumpkin pie. But, for me, none of these reach as deep as the smells of summer.

This is why I pick up plants every chance I get. My porch is full with tropical plants. Just last week I bought a miniature yellow hibiscus to go with the two pink ones sitting out there. The jasmine is blooming and I can smell it whenever I go out. I love the greens and pinks and yellows and whites. My plants bring the tropics to my porch, which is where I love to be.

Summer has sounds, also, especially music. They aren't as strong as the smells, but they are close. I hear Seals & Crofts, The Eagles, CSN and Three Dog Night. Songs from these artists take me back to when summer was freedom - out of school, too young to work...just a couple of chores and hours at the pool.

Honestly, I'm happy year-round. I have a loving family who I enjoy spending time with. I have a great job and I have interests to occupy me. We are clothed and fed and reasonably comfortable. Every season has its beauty. But if I had to choose, I'd say I'm a summer-kindof guy.

The end of a journey...

Life is all about journeys. Some of them are long and arduous, some are brief, some are focused and some are some are meandering. We've been told and told, "It's not the destination, it's the journey." There is a lot of truth to this, though there is a lot to be said for the destination as well. The destination is where we sit and look back on the trip, pick through the memories and catalog our souvenirs. The destination can mark the end of a long path. It can also mark the beginning of a new one.

But the journey is what is most memorable. It is during the journey that we grow and learn. During the journey we have many choices in which way to go, how to get where we are headed (I started to say "where we are going", but they aren't always the same thing). Often we are not afforded the chance to undo or redo parts of the journey - that's okay. It's the journey that makes us who we are.

Enough philosophizing...Today is something of a destination for me. Yesterday I completed the requirements for my Bachelor of Science degree in Software Engineering. It was quite a journey. It was almost solid - nearly every day for 2 years. I'm glad to be at the destination, but I'm especially thankful for the journey. I met some very smart people who pushed me at times, and dragged me along at others. I've come out of it with potential life-long friends. I had instructors that challenged me and others that encouraged me greatly. In the end, it was a good experience for me.

I'm thankful to my family for putting up with me - all my late nights and daily work. My stress over projects that weren't going well. My school commitments that forced them to be flexible in my family time. I couldn't have done it without all their love and support.

So now it's on to a new journey. I'm not sure where it will lead; not even sure what it will look like. But I know for certain that we'll enjoy the trip.

Springtime...

Okay, so it's not quite here yet. But it's coming. It was in the mid-eighties today. It's a little early to smell the grass, and there aren't any wild flowers out yet. But the trees in the neighborhood have started coming back. Soon it will be time to start thinking about a garden and what I want to do with the flowerbeds. It's going to get cold again, in the next week or so they say. But Spring is close.

We are planning to clean this weekend. My wife is ready to clean out, and I'm kindof looking forward to it myself. We do this periodically throughout the year (major cleaning, I mean - we do normal cleaning fairly regularly). But we seem to be better at it in the Spring. Or maybe it's just not such a drag in the Spring. I'm not sure, but it doesn't seem to be so bad when the weather turns nicer.

Spring training is getting underway also. It won't be long before the kids start getting ready for little league baseball. I wonder if little league is like it was when I was a kid. I remember having tryouts. It wasn't actually a tryout. It was more an attempt at leveling the teams. Then practice would start. I hated practice. Lots of running. My five minutes' worth of batting practice. Then shagging fly balls in the outfield. But then came Opening Day, and it was all worth it. Clean uniforms, anticipation, and the pure promise of a new season. On opening day, the season was born - a rebirth that is like many things in Spring.

I can't wait for April showers. And I love the May Flowers that come with it. I love the smell of the grass and the beautiful 75 degree days. I'm ready to go for a walk by the lake with my wife.

Spring has always been my favorite time of year. I love the warmth of summer, and I can get into a good winter storm - once per year or so, thank you. Fall is a nice break from the hot summers (I like them, but they get old sometimes). But Spring is always full of promise. This year, just like every other, I'm ready to enjoy it...right after I finish cleaning.

For my darling wife...

It's not exactly the one you asked for, but it's a close as I could get.

Love you..

My Escape...

When I was young, I had a strategy for getting through hard times. I would plan my escape. This was back in something like 7th grade. I spent hours checking airfares to all the places I wouldn't mind escaping to. I'd find hotels that I thought maybe I'd stay at. And because I was somewhat realistic (can't you tell?), I also checked fares on Greyhound. I had something close to 80 bucks saved. I was ready - if Life pushed just a little too far, I was off.

That kind of thought gave me a lot of strength to get though difficult times. It's easier to endure something when you know there *is* an alternative, even if you know you’ll never take it.

People think this way all the time. If work gets too bad, they know they can find a new job. If life at home is rough, they can find a hobby to occupy them. If worse comes to worse, a pair of headphones and a loud iPod make a handy escape.

Sometimes, however, these don't go far enough. Sometimes a real escape is called for. Now, I don't mean to sound like life is closing in on me and that I have to find a way out of the one I have. It's not and I don't. But there are days...

Once in a while I find myself looking for a place to run. Not looking *to* run - just planning. Like back in seventh grade. The pressures are different today than they were back then. And in a lot of ways, they are easier to deal with – not everything feels like the end of the world the way it did back then. And knowing there are options still helps to take the edge off.

I’ve always been something of a daydreamer. I know there are people who "escape" to extremes. They escape into alcohol or drugs, or they run away to Tahiti (or used to anyway), or they just never grow up. I prefer my own version – to sit for a minute and think of the beach, and my wife and I splashing in the waves, or looking for shells. And I smile, and then I come back to the now, until the next trip..

Want what you have...

This is the secret to happiness. Of course, knowing it and living it are two different things.

I've never spent much of my life looking back. Sure, there are some things I'd do differently, but I don't dwell on them. And anyway they are mostly non-specific things, like I wish I'd done better in school...stuff like that.

I've also been able to do some things that I wouldn't change for anything. I've been to exciting places - Hawaii, the USVI, Germany and Mexico. I'd like to take my wife back to some of the places I got to go before I knew her. On the other hand, comparing trips I made with her and trips I made without her, the times with her are the most memorable. Not that I didn't enjoy trips with my family, but with those my memories are more about me. Trips with my wife have left me with memories about us.

One thing about trips I've taken with my wife: we've had some exceptional times in some relatively ordinary places. I remember driving along the Gulf Coast from New Orleans into Mississippi. We didn't really do much except drive and look at the houses along the beach. I won't ever forget it though.

We were able to turn a work trip to Florida into a vacation / wedding / honeymoon. We flew into Tampa, then drove to Ft. Lauderdale. I worked a few days in each place, then we got married (Tuesday, after work). We took the rest of the week for a honeymoon. We drove to the Keys. I have fond memories of an ordinary gas station / convenience store just across the bridge on Key Largo. It started pouring just as we got out of the car. I remember the little stand that sold Cuban sandwiches (and only Cuban sandwiches) out in front of the Publix grocery. We stayed in some truly memorable hotels.

Our wedding day was unlike anyone else's that we know. I worked that day. At lunch I took her to have her nails done. After work I went and picked up a bouquet for her (ordered it myself and I have to say, I was impressed). Then we drove together to Hillsboro Beach and got married on the beach - barefoot. Afterward we stopped at Outback Steakhouse on the way back to the hotel. (We had a tough time finding a place to eat, and almost settled on something like Burger King.) We celebrated with half a bottle of wine, and fell asleep early. We were both exhausted. And I wouldn't change a thing.

We have had similar times at other places (though we only got married the one time). One weekend we headed for a Trading Days sort of thing in a small town in central Texas, and ended up 8 hours later on the beach in Matagorda. We spent the night in Port LaVaca, had Church's Chicken for dinner, and got up the next morning and headed south to Port Aransas. Early that afternoon, we decided we'd better head home. In the end, we just drove a big circle. These are the memories I'm happiest about.

But I'm getting off track. My point is that happiness is in our hands. I could have the attitude that it takes a million dollar boat, a Learjet and a private island, and then I'd be happy. These things aren't likely. Or I could be happy with things that are a little more in my reach. Even if the million dollar boat was a possibility, given enough hard work, sacrifice and luck, I'd still have to spend all the time and energy necessary to obtain it. That doesn't seem very productive to me. I'm not saying I shouldn't aspire to greater things - I do. And I have my own Bucket List, parts of which are not really attainable. But my happiness doesn't depend on these.

Of course, there are some for whom the challenge is the reward. There are folks who find happiness not in owning something, but in obtaining it. Overcoming the challenges and the barriers does certainly provide satisfaction. And to those people, I raise my glass. Because for them, the challenge is the desire, and it's within their reach.

When we can learn to want the things we have, we'll have the things we want. And once in a while, something will come along and surprise us.