Green Grandparents

I was riding my bike around today, and was considering what to write about my grandparents for their 4oth anniversary. I realized, that they have been quite influential in my environmental education -- my appreciation of nature and the abundance it offers us. Since I was young, they have, in an indirect manner, taught me about conservation, living within our natural world and what it means to be a steward of the earth. They might now know this, or they might not completely understand what I'm talking about, but I am very grateful to them for their ability to not only be supportive, interesting, and active, but also grandparents that are completely green. From their use of land to their chopping of dead trees to use for winter heat, they are unusually green without knowing it. Its great. They are really great people, and I"m forever grateful for their influence on me and my life.

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On a completely different note, I've been lead lately to write about travel again, and feel that understanding your surroundings is a large part of knowing where your at -- of attaining knowledge of your place on this planet. I've been trying to be more observant of my surrounding lately and have discovered a vast array of newness to an area of town that I've been in for quite some time. Summer is here, and the days are long and warm. People are dining outside, having late evening coffee and walking the beach during the heat of the evening and afternoon. I find this lifestyle very encouraging and exhilarating. There was a cruise ship in port the other evening, and as I walked around the quay, the energy of these people from around the world could be visibly seen and felt. It was a very balmy late afternoon, locals were headed home from work, but the idle travelers were abundant -- having afternoon coffee, ice cream and wine -- drifting from place to place, taking pictures, and leaving the opera house steps looks like stadium seating. It was invigorating to notice, and encouraging to be a part of. We are all just looking for the same peace of mind -- leaving our homes for a place that is foreign and new, not knowing, really, what we will find, but realize why we are away when have moment of clarity, as I did that evening, knowing exactly why it is that we are away, but not being able to explain it clearly. Sydney is strange like that. People knowing that this place is just, one of the most amazing places -- sometimes though, it takes the most mundane things to make one realize it. Wherever it is we are in the world, I find it is the small point of life, of our normal day, that make it worth the effort, worth the time to be there that make it tolerable. Its the day to day activities that we miss, not the big events. The friends that make us feel whole, the places that make us feel comfortable and the things that make us feel connected are terribly necessary in an ever increasingly busy world. The moments of clarity might be far a few between, but when they happen, embrace them, prolong them and make note of that feeling of exuberance and energy that embraces your whole being -- it is then that we are able to truly be ourselves.