Guadalajara?

A few summers ago, I went to Portland, Oregon.  Amazing place.  Anyway, I took this picture there.  A pretty cool sign randomly placed in the middle of a square.  I wasn’t the only one to stop and take a picture of this sign.  In fact, a woman there, probably twice my age was standing with her husband who couldn’t quite get the camera to focus and said to me, where would you go if you could choose?  Timbuktu? Casablanca? Guadalajara… what’s even there? (Obviously, I’d pick the Kangaroos, even if they are 8,003 miles away!)  But, why do we always need to know where we are going?  Like, why don’t we just hop in the car with no destination and started driving.  Because, that shits scary or crazy.  I guess it is human nature to ‘plan’.  I use that term loosely because we cannot really plan a life.  You can set goals or plan for what you hope will happen, but you cannot actually plan out your life, no matter how hard you try.  There will always be the unforeseen.  Expect the unexpected as they say.

I keep a planner with all my daily appointments and things to do.  It really is overflowing with reminders like “make dentist appt.” or “camo day at school”.  But, even in my “planner” I can only plan ahead a few months at a time.  So, why are we always trying to pave a perfectly lined road to our future?  Why do we always NEED to know where we are going?

The destination, of course, is important.  But what about all the stuff along the way.  It’s that “live in the moment” attitude.  If we are so focused on what is to come, we miss what is happening around us.

Its the little moments, really.  I mean sure, we focus on the milestones and the big goals and getting there.  But those little moments, they make the difference.  Like talking to a stranger about all the places she has seen and yet still wants to go.  The sporadic coffee dates with old friends or the day at the park with your kids.  These moments matter too.  And they aren’t REALLY part of the plan, not the big one anyway but they make for a happy life.

Maybe we don’t always need to know exactly where we are going.  Maybe all we need to do is learn to appreciate all of things along the way.  Enjoy life.  As many moments as you can without worrying what comes next.  Don’t plan, just go.  Because, you never know, ending up in Guadalajara might turn out to be quite the adventure.