After a short weekend at the beach which included a business meeting for my son-in-law, my daughter laments: "I wish the trip wasn't over." We are just minutes from the airport, and indeed the trip is over.
An optimistic voice pipes in from the back seat. London, my son-in-law, says, "When one trip is over, I just start a new one."
I interpret his words to mean: life is a series of adventures that begin when one ends, whether it is a trip, a new place, a new day, or even a new hour. Each moment holds the potential for learning, adventure, and opportunity.
I remember feeling the same way as my daughter at the end of a dream trip with two favorite cousins and my mother. All three women were Interior Designers and I was fortunate enough to accompany them on a furniture buying trip to the American furniture design city in the United States. It was intoxicating. Buildings and buildings full of the latest design trends, and full of beautifully crafted furniture.
And of course there was an amazing amount of down-time-fun. My cousins and I hadn't been together since I was a child, when my oldest cousins would take us to the cabin, where we would play Authors, hike, eat popcorn, and sleep around the fireplace.
As we were about to part, each of us heading to different gates at the airport, I said to my cousin, "I wish this trip wasn't over. I feel like I'm in the Mary Poppins movie, and I've been in Bert's magical chalk drawing having the adventure of a lifetime. It's started raining, the chalk drawing has dissolved and the adventure is over."
"Ah," my cousin's eyes twinkled as if she were Mary Poppins herself, "But you can always start a new chalk drawing."
And so I am reminded this morning, when the alarm rings before six a.m., when I dutifully trudge to the shower, dutifully prepare my thoughts for this morning's classes, that it isn't just another day at school for a tired teacher, but another day to create and enjoy another chalk drawing.
An optimistic voice pipes in from the back seat. London, my son-in-law, says, "When one trip is over, I just start a new one."
I interpret his words to mean: life is a series of adventures that begin when one ends, whether it is a trip, a new place, a new day, or even a new hour. Each moment holds the potential for learning, adventure, and opportunity.
I remember feeling the same way as my daughter at the end of a dream trip with two favorite cousins and my mother. All three women were Interior Designers and I was fortunate enough to accompany them on a furniture buying trip to the American furniture design city in the United States. It was intoxicating. Buildings and buildings full of the latest design trends, and full of beautifully crafted furniture.
And of course there was an amazing amount of down-time-fun. My cousins and I hadn't been together since I was a child, when my oldest cousins would take us to the cabin, where we would play Authors, hike, eat popcorn, and sleep around the fireplace.
As we were about to part, each of us heading to different gates at the airport, I said to my cousin, "I wish this trip wasn't over. I feel like I'm in the Mary Poppins movie, and I've been in Bert's magical chalk drawing having the adventure of a lifetime. It's started raining, the chalk drawing has dissolved and the adventure is over."
"Ah," my cousin's eyes twinkled as if she were Mary Poppins herself, "But you can always start a new chalk drawing."
And so I am reminded this morning, when the alarm rings before six a.m., when I dutifully trudge to the shower, dutifully prepare my thoughts for this morning's classes, that it isn't just another day at school for a tired teacher, but another day to create and enjoy another chalk drawing.