May Even Your Trip Across Town Be Epic

At one point when I drove my kids to school this morning, we were stuck behind a vvvveeeeerrrrryyyy slow-moving street-sweeper on a two-lane road with no shoulder. The kids were shocked and delighted when I saw a break in oncoming traffic, flew into the opposing lane and whipped around the street-sweeper. They said it was the best ride to school ever.  

This incident got me thinking about how often something as mundane as a drive to school becomes an adventure with my kids. Because even when we follow all the traffic rules, they notice and ponder so much about what happens around us. They discuss whether the brown lab or the beagle looks friendlier, and what life must be like for the dapper man who walks past us every day in a tailored suit and jaunty hat, smoking a cigar. They wonder why people say "it's a cloudy day," when really the whole sky is grey, and you can't see a single cloud. They are mindful without knowing it, present without trying. 

While there are countless reasons why we travel, I think that many of us adults travel, in part, because we feel like our daily lives are not exciting enough. We think that the people walking down the street we're on are not as fascinating as the people in the next place we could go--in Paris or Malawi or Ecuador. But what if, actually, they are?

If we learn to pay attention, kids can remind us that the smallest experiences contain the largest possibilities. Practically anything can spark wonder in us, or help us start a conversation, or get us moving, or make us smile. ​

​So here's your challenge: Let this upcoming week be a scavenger hunt for wonder, wherever you are.  I'll do it too, and let's share together. Each day, notice, and write down or photograph, three small and simple things that spark the curious traveler in you.