“Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards – the things we live by and teach our children – are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.”—Walt Disney
I am still recovering from our two-week vacation back east. (I will spare the diet and weight-loss details.) I continue, however, to revisit the details of the trip and all to which we were able to expose our kids. So much of my life and my wife’s life was seen in such a short time. Our kids were able to visit quite a few family members who they don’t often get to see. They also met some of our most important friends—the kind of friends one can go years without seeing and pick up right where they left off and with whom spouses can enter in late and feel as though they have been part of the relationship from the beginning.
Visiting many of the historical sites of our youth was wonderful, but the people who helped make us who we are is better. Family and friends are what give meaning to the places. Their presence brings back a flood of memories. I believe it is important for our children to have a connection to our past. It is important that they learn about their roots. Who better than from grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and old friends?
We are all connected in far more ways than we can imagine. I have no doubt that paths may have been crossed more times than we might expect. (My wife and I worked within blocks of each other in the brief time I lived in NY. And then, of course, my dad and his wife moved within a few miles from where she lived in Virginia, which sealed our destiny.)
On top of all the sites we visited in Oyster Bay, NYC, Pittsburgh, Morgantown, Annapolis, Baltimore, and Washington, DC, we showed the kids the site of our first date and (to the sound of their groans) our first kiss. They go a glimpse of over 50 years of our lives in just 15 days. They have just a little better understanding of who they are by being exposed to who we are.
It is essential that we remember where it is we come from and who has influenced us (even if that influence or experience was a negative). We are shaped, whether we like it or not by every person, place, and experience in our life. We have not arrived where we are or to where we are going in isolation.
Carpe momento!