Live in the Place Where You Are

The statement is so simple and obvious that I shouldn’t have to tell you or myself – yet, it dawned on me in a new way: live in the place where you are. 

Dr. Seuss could write a book about this. “Where you live is where you’re at, and there’s isn’t anything better than that. Are you in a house on land, or in a boat on water? Up in a tree or down under, I wonder? Either is home enough for me.” 

The house boat is a reality on Lake Union in Seattle

My grandparents recently moved from the house that they built on land that they bought into a much smaller, assisted living apartment. In the way they are gratefully accepting their new home while letting go of the way life was before, I am inspired. 

A year and a half ago, I also left the familiar Midwest where I was born and raised and transplanted myself to the Pacific Northwest. Who knows how long I’ll be here, or where I’ll go next. What I am learning is that we are here for a reason, and God’s never finished with us - no matter what age we are.

So this is my new resolution: to not take for granted the place in which I am and in all that it holds for me to grow. To not look to the future or postpone our living for another time and place. For this is really a beautiful place, with lots of opportunity.

Yesterday I left the bubble of my own neighborhood for another close by, discovering a new coffee shop, a new view, and finding my way back without a map, being surprised along the way and inspired. 

It could happen at the coffee shop in the next neighborhood over. It could be at the dog park or fitness studio. Or you might just discover that joy in helping a homeless person who is smiling now because of you.

Wherever you are, be present and get engaged - with people, with service, with your passion and interests. It could mean opening your heart to love, to a fresh start, to forgiveness, to being willing to make a lasting commitment to a person or a vocation. Indeed, it has become that for me, as I prepare to wed the love of my life this summer and vow our forever to each other. That's engagement! That's committing to new life in front of you and giving your whole self, holding nothing back.

Touch the places where you go and don’t be afraid to leave your footprint. For there will never again be another you. So go where the people are and touch them too. Look at them. Love them.

While I'm here, I want to walk down by the lake daily if I can, breathe deeply the Washington cocktail of pungent blossoms mixed with evergreen pines; listen and be healed by the soothing sound of the waves lapping the shoreline; taste and try new exotic, raw and fresh foods abundant at the market or prepared by one of the city's award-winning chefs who deserves my appreciation. I will run the trails, hike the mountains, write, love, smile at the dogs wagging their tails and sharing the space with me in the coffee shop, hop a ride on the ferry…and so much more. I will crack this shell and let my light spill out. And you know where? Right here is a more than fine place to begin.

View of Mt. Rainier from Lake Washington