Monday Moment - Travel Alive!

One of the things that makes me feel alive is to observe, ask, and imagine how other people live.

Last week, I had the opportunity to spend a couple days in New York City - and I can't think of another place in this country that stirs my imagination more - and causes me to consider different ways of life from my own.

I was attuned to the differences I saw in a heightened way because of a chance encounter a couple weeks ago. While we were sitting waiting for a table at our favorite Italian restaurant in Canandaigua, a couple visiting from Manhattan came in. We struck up a conversation, and they asked what we'd recommend they do for fun in our town on the following day.

Well we all love where we live, but we couldn't think of much going on - that a couple New York City folks would enjoy - on a Sunday afternoon in February. We felt rather at a loss - and also a bit embarrassed by what we couldn't think to say.

So these folks were on my mind as I walked around the streets of lower Manhattan. There was certainly no lack of stimulation in their world. Public housing, stores of both the mom and pop and huge department varieties, vendors on the streets, a zillion restaurants, and oceans of humanity. Just walking was an adventure (and good for over 500 minutes of intentional exercise last week!)

But what's so intriguing for me, is to imagine how one's life is affected by such stimulation - and in different ways than the stimulation I experience of bright clean snow, watching ice sailors and fishermen, and planning a trip to our next big town when I can't find something I need to buy here in my own town.

I absolutely would never willingly change places with folks who live in New York City. It's not my place. But visiting there - observing and imagining all of those lives, wondering how these folks's lives are different and similar to mine - oh yeah, that makes me feel alive! Alive - and surprisingly connected to all these people I'll never know! And already looking forward to my next trip to somewhere entirely different from my own place in the world! Alive!