Somewhere Over the Rainbow

One of the most difficult parts of the journey I have been on in this lifetime, or over the course of the three lifetimes I have had thus far, has been to try and decide where I would live if I could live anywhere. I have thought about this often, and there have been times when I was in a position to settle pretty much anywhere I wanted, but I have never been able to choose a place.

Yes, I am at times somewhat indecisive, but that is not a significant part of why I cannot choose a place, the ultimate reason is that this is too amazing a planet we live on, leaving out for now the possibility of living in outer space. There are so many places I have been that I have truly enjoyed, a bunch I have not enjoyed, but so many that I have truly enjoyed, whether for a weekend, years, or somewhere in between, how can a person possibly choose.

Of course I am always amazed by people that have had the same job for twenty or thirty years, and by people that have had the same spouse for thirty or forty years, and by people that have lived in the same house for forty or fifty years, let alone those that grow up in a house and then took it over from their parents, and just perpetuate that cycle. I just don’t know how, I am amazed and somewhat envious of such people, but I just don’t know how.

I have lived in the same place for three years, but I have been so hyper focused on the professional goals for those three years that I have barely ventured outside the eight block downtown area, let alone the sights and activities outside the center.

I consider myself fortunate to have been so many places and seen so much of this country and the world. There are still a number of places I have not been; Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Asia, but when you think on that for a minute that is a lot of territory covered in the UK, Europe, I distinguish those two because they do, North America, South America, and there really are not that many places left that I feel the need to visit, which is not entirely true because I think I will have done myself, and the planet, a disservice if I don’t see all points of destination outside of where I am by the time I actually leave the planet, and again I am not speaking of the space mission here, but the afterlife.

I do really want to see Australia, and always have, especially Sydney, for some reason that city just seems to be calling me, the same is true for New Zealand. Aisa, I very much want to experience the culture, the architecture and the scenery. Africa is a place that is just amazing to me because of the beauty of the animals that are there in the spaces they belong. I realize that some of my reasons for seeing these places overlook other obvious points of learning that I should consider, but still to see them at all I think will be magnificent.

As I expand on the places I have already seen I think I am just going to create more of an issue with where is the ultimate destination, prior to my ashes being scattered at the base of the Matterhorn, this is the first time I have said this out loud, and I have said it because it sounded good in my head at the time. I truly love so many places on this planet, and could see myself living in many of these places, which leaves me not wanting to pick one.

I would live in Switzerland, for example, in a second. I love Bern, it is a very inviting and exciting place to be, the climate there is great, to me, and the cycling, hiking, skiing, in and around Bern is magnificent. The drive from Bern to Zermatt, to do all of the above, is simply breathtaking, and includes twenty minutes on an “autotrain,” that I swear is left over from World War II, and really “cool.” At the same time I would be very happy moving to Boise, Idaho, and enjoying much of the same in the Boise area. The climates are completely different, and Switzerland is much more plush and green as a result, but both areas, climates, people make these places I would live given the right opportunity or reason. If the decision were down to these two places that would be pretty easy to work through, unfortunately, or fortunately really, there are so many other possibilities.

Let’s see, Zurich, Boulder, Steamboat Springs, Brussels, Tuscany, Theale, Chicago, Denver, Washington D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, NY, NY, Hartford, just kidding, New Orleans, Dallas, not so much London, Toronto, in a heartbeat, or in a New York minute, Sydney, and I haven’t even been there, call it a hunch, Charlotte…I am getting tired, but you get the point.

If nothing else, please see as many of these places, and many, many more, along your journey. The reason I wanted to write about this, and this is very much the abridged version, is because I would like to inspire people to get out and see this country first, and as much of it as you can, and as much of the world as you can thereafter.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.