Oh for the Love of History

I never realized what I great history love I am until I earnestly began to embrace reading again. I read lots of different things, but the stories of historical situations – even fictious ones peppered with historical details, give me a great deal of satisfaction. I love bios and memoirs and just plain old non-fiction.

My boys are following in my footsteps.

Virginia is a beautiful place, full of history and so we often find ourselves walking in history’s footsteps. Today it was at the Yorktown Battlefield. I love the Battlefield driving tour, as it is simple and to the point. It doesn’t mire you in all the details, but gives the general gist of those final days of the Revolutionary War. And it breaks it down in a way that kids can even love it.

I don’t know what it is (besides the cannons), but they love to run around to all the sites. My older son (formerly known as Bump and now 7 years old) understands what happened to some degree. And it thrills him. Which in turn thrills me. The little one just goes with the flow….I’m good with that.

So on a beautiful day full of clouds and wind, we found history. Or maybe it just found us.

 

It’s the Shoes

I spent some alone time in public today. And during these moments where I am not distracted by the antics of young boys, I often find myself shoe watching. It’s kind of a take off on people watching. Every since my feet began to give me major problems 4 years ago, and I have been relegated to mostly athletic shoes as the preferred footwear of choice, I have began to really notice what others put on their feet.

In this part of the world the flip flop is a year round shoe. I have heard young girls giddy with the acquisition of a menagerie of colored foam floppers to match every outfit in the wardrobe. I have stared blatantly at women running around in 4 inch heels. I have smiled at the varieties of Chuckie Taylor’s now available. I love to see the toe shoes and wonder how that works for them.

I wonder why we wear what we do? Is it cool to wear certain shoes. Certainly my running shoes are chosen because they support my condition. Still wearing Saucony’s motion control shoe – think it’s the MC2 now, used to be the Grid Stabil. I wear lesser sneakers with arch supports during the day, a pair of asaic cross trainers for workouts and stare at a pair of Vibram 5 fingers that have evolved into glorified slippers. I have a pair of purple CTs in my closet, a few pairs of crocs and a pair of mary jane style shoes with some support in them. My closet is a graveyard of pumps and loafers, too risky to wear with any kind of regularity. Fortunately, my lifestyle supports my shoe options. What would happen if it didn’t? Would the business world accept me with athletic shoes???

I watch anyway, every chance I get. Is our shoe choice a reflection of who we are, or who we want to be. Our station in life, or what we want to achieve?

 

Today and the Future

I dreamed today of living in Upper Michigan, hidden somewhere on some backroad that is a collage of backroads that fill my memories. I see a house, a yard and my family. I see the snow, the mud and the green summer days. I feel a peace. It is officially in our plans to go there someday soon, to leave behind Virginia, our beautiful state that is too mired in traffic, wealth and one upmanship. Well parts of it are, mostly the part we live in. I know we could be happy in the more rural parts of the state. But we are leaving and going to family. That counts for something.

This is not happening tomorrow, but in the next five years sometimes. As now we make plans to make this happen, my heart is light and there is hope.

Fifteen years ago, I excitedly left the state I had lived in all my life for an adventure. But now the adventure has changed.

I am so excited.