There’s a rise on the interstate when traveling west toward my house. When I crest that rise on a clear day, I see the same mountains that I see from my office window. Several years ago, I experienced the view from that rise on that stretch of highway as if for the first time, though in truth it was, perhaps, the third or fourth. In seeing the familiar view anew, I realized I’d returned home.
Landscape shapes us, and it shapes our lives, often in ways we don’t realize. I didn’t grow up with mountains, but I came of age among them. I’ve lived my entire adult life in, about, and around mountains, and by adult, I mean the time in my life when I stopped trying to be something and (slowly, at times without realizing it, and often impractically) tried to do the things that meant something to me.
The doing made me who I would become.
Under the shadow of the mountains, I learned to act according to my principles, and I learned that it requires confidence, patience, and conscientiousness to give others the space they need to do the same. I learned this, slowly but surely, as I hiked and summited most of the mountains that tower beyond my office window.
I’m not saying I have confidence, patience, and conscientiousness, but I respect the reality that we’re all doing our best, whatever that means today. I remain committed to giving and taking the necessary space.
When I see them through the windshield at the end of an odyssey, the mountains remind me that there’s always another high and another low, but we’re best served if we maintain level emotions and maintain course with an eye to our truest north.
Happy Hiking.
An Appropriate Jam
Menahan Street Band’s Make The Road By Walking
This Brooklyn based instrumental band plays a gentle mixture of funk and soul that features a slight Latin infused swing. If you want a sequence of jams that will ignite your mojo while providing support to all who lean back into life, Make The Road By Walking will show you the way.
The album’s title was taken from a poem by Antonio Machado, one of my favorites.
I use Amazon Associate links to the books, music, and films I mention, earning a small commission from qualifying purchases.
