I’m a music nerd.
There, I admitted it. I love music. I’ll pretty much give anything a listen or two. Recently I came across a trailer for a movie that screened at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas last week.
That video got me thinking. You have three immensely talented groups dropping what they’re doing to travel together just for the sake of the adventure. That’s inspiring. How often do we appreciate the journey? The excitement? The adventure?
It also made me think about Thomas Jefferson and his home, Monticello. When old Tommy was building his masterpiece he was told by all the builders and architects that what he wanted was impossible. But he persevered and continued building. Now it is one of the most iconic American homes in our country’s history. And I bet that Mr. Jefferson wouldn’t have traded the memories from building that house for anything, because those tough times and wild memories are what we treasure. The finished product is great, but we love and live for the journey.
Everything we do is a journey, some of those journeys are mundane and are part of the daily grind. But some of those journeys are incredible and exciting. Our lives as a collective whole are incredible journeys. It’s easy to get into grooves where we feel like this isn’t true. Maybe you feel unfulfilled at work, or you feel like you’re just stuck in a rut. This is all a part of this insanely mystic journey that we are all traveling on.
Neighborhoods are also on journeys. Meandering their way through generation after generation. It reminds me of a river, making it’s way across the landscape. I love seeing the way that neighborhoods change over time. Looking back into their history and seeing how the previous generations experienced and lived in different areas. Driving through Northriver is like taking a tour through Tuscaloosa history. Spend a day at the Yacht Club chatting up residents and you’ll find no shortage of stories from years gone by.
When I sit back and consider this it dawns on me that we are all a part of this story. Our individual lives inter-tangling, creating a web that as we macro out forms a tapestry of life. There’s something comforting and disorienting about that realization.
I guess the point of this rambling is that we need to take a step back from time to time and appreciate the journey.
