Monthly Archives: January 2015

Westward Bound.

This morning, I made my fifth trip to a Chicago airport in three weeks. The journeys to Midway and O’Hare remind me of the days before the kids got their drivers’ licenses, those fleeting pre-sixteen years when they needed rides to games, practices, rehearsals, friends’ homes, anywhere. Scrambling into the passenger seat, they settle in and talk. Free from eye contact, distractions, and agendas, the children embrace the freedom to share, dream, and problem solve. I bask in marveling about their adventurous, independent lives – paper assignments, quirky roommates, worries, friends, trips, projects, presentations, memories. No texts, no tweets, no phones, they courteously wait until they are out of the van to check their cells.  Too bad there are planes to take Katie, Bobby, Brigid, and Brendan back to the west coast. I’d like to drive them.

Resolutions.

Move more. Nibble less. Listen more. Read more. Talk less.  Explore more. Think more. Write more. Watch less. Give more. Share more. Simplify more. Value more. Consume less. Marvel more. Praise more. Sing more. Dance more. Play more. Complain less. Smile more. Laugh more. Wonder more. Connect more. Accept more. Embrace more. Judge less. Pray more. Kneel more. Thank more. Forgive more. Love more. Live more.