America

Blog post #10 in a row! The countdown until our book release continues.

Are we vainly still chasing the American dream? Is there an end game in the constant search for happiness through materialistic goods? No. I fear not. As Paul says, in his lyrics for the song “America,” the fun is in the travel. It’s simply the act of going through the experiences of life that bring us joy, not what we might buy along the way.

When I was out of state for my military training, I would bring home the most unique rocks I could find from each region. These were the souvenirs I brought back for my daughters. They were part of the very geology of the area where I had been. They took the place of the mass-marketed items sold to tourists that were not even made in the same country I was in at the time. They still have a jar of ash from Mount Saint Helens and other mementos from my travels.

Then when I got to take my girls on one of my deployments with the Air Force, Crete, Greece. As we visited the temple of Zeus, I noticed that my daughter, Jean Marie, was constantly falling behind the group. When I asked her why she was moving so slow, she said that her cardigan was getting too heavy for her to carry. She then asked if I could carry it for her. As I assented and reached for her sweater, my voice held a note of incredulity. How could her sweater be slowing her down? Then I realized that she had been using her sweater to carry a building collection of stones. She gathered random chips of marble, limestone, brick, and rock in her sweater as we visited the sites. I had to teach her that there would be nothing left for future generations to see if everyone took a piece home with them. Perhaps this blog post should have been titled “I Am a Rock?” The only souvenirs we take with us are photographic and the words in our travel journals. In the end, they are more meaningful than another keychain.