Cold Travels Led To A Warm Welcome

Our travels from Cedar Rapids, IA to Lincoln, NE turned from cold and wet to cold and frozen. Shortly after we arrived in Lincoln, the rain turned to snow as the temperature dropped. Luckily we were settled into our hotel by this time. Our stop in Lincoln was really our first planned stop on our way to AZ. My nephew Joe and his fiancee Camille are attending graduate school there. Joe took me on a tour of where he works along with parts of campus. All of it was extremely impressive. When I travel, what I seem to observe the most are the people. Nebraska’s old moniker “Nebraska Nice” certainly rang true. Not only at the university, but everywhere we went the people were very kind.

It was an immense joy to sit and talk with Joe and Camille about their migration to Lincoln, their programs of study and their plans beyond. Through our conversations I reflected back on when Colleen and I started out. We started on a different path, but it was very much the same. We were simply trying to find our fit in the world. It is amazing to think of how our understanding of how the world worked was so incredibly naive. I should really speak for myself here. Colleen has always been better adjusted than me. As I think about it today, I remember my mindset being one of success looking like a line graph. The trajectory of the line appearing to be linear if I simply put in enough time and work. What I have found is that success looks much more like a rats nest than a linear line. Putting in the time and hard work are no doubt imperative to achieve success, however these two things do not prepare you for unknown variables that life throws at you. I was extremely ill equipped to deal with these variables. My approach in earlier years was simply to power through and try to bend life to how I thought it should look like. In doing so, I made things very tough on myself. There was a lot of expectation on what life and success was supposed to look like. It was not until recent years did I start learning about patience, open-mindedness and acceptance. Through these pursuits I have found that success for me today wears a different face. This face presents itself to me today when I experience peace and serenity.

I commented to Joe and Camille on how their maturity and approach to life is very impressive to me. I am extremely excited for them both and very much look forward to seeing how they will grow together and leave their mark on this world.