We just got back from a long road trip to Arizona, via Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, and I am always excited to drive, rather than fly, especially when it means we may have to go through some small towns. For most of my childhood, until I left for college in Iowa, my three brothers and I experienced many backroads, the by-ways and highways, thanks to our parent’s desire for us to learn about life and our beautiful country. We took weekends/and or vacation time to visit the Grand Canyon, Grand Coolie Dam, Las Vegas, Chicago, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, The Redwoods, the beaches of CA, and the beautiful scenic highways along the Pacific Coast. The interstate freeway system was not fully developed when I was a very young child, but in 1956, President Eisenhower’s Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 gave us the flexibility to travel from coast to coast, eliminating the need to go through all the small towns. It provided opportunity to see the grandeur of mountains and plains and oceans from super highways, but it missed the important little towns that were key to the developing U.S.A. Some of those little towns, and the people that resided there, were the best part of our trip. A dear friend of ours purposefully stops at small towns and meets people on his way to the Midwest from Wyoming. These people are the “character” of our country. They are kind and conversant, and they have stories. Many of them.
We build character every day of our life. With bumps and curves of the little, and occasional big events as a young person, we learn how to survive in our world. We may have off-roaded and unchecked ourselves from people. We may have loved and been hurt. Impractical and unexpected decisions may have been made during this time, and it impacted our future. If we were fortunate to find support, we were able to correct our detours by using opportunities to navigate and react/respond - and it allowed us to become strong, vibrant and confident.
We all need connection, and, as a result, receive emotional and personal stability when we feel we are a part of the whole. Let’s get connected! Let me help you feel connected!