Living and Loving the Ride

I stepped away from the computer, my sketchbook, my yoga mat and the house today for a different type of experience..

I was fortunate enough to spend time with our two children, my mother, and mother-in-law at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.

I'm not much one for cars - but my son's birthday is coming up soon and this was a wonderful treat for him.

Growing up in Indiana, the Indianapolis 500 has always been a tradition for us in one way or another, so it was also exciting to see some history behind it.  And - for those who remember - I was lucky enough to run around that 2.5 mile race track several weeks ago.  Being back there brought back AWESOME memories...I am definitely ready to sign up for the mini marathon for next year.  (Ask me again in a few months and my enthusiasm may look a bit different.)

On display at the museum were several older cars.  (This is the centennial anniversary for the Speedway, so you can only imagine the history surrounding it.)  There were quite a few that just fascinated me mainly because of the story I knew was embedded in their fibers and bolts.

Ten miles an hour maximum?  Seriously, can you imagine life at that pace?  Just for a second, try to picture how your life - work, kids (if you have them), shopping, outings - would look different if it was expected that the quickest we could get anywhere ten miles away ...was an hour.  Hmm.

We also watched a short film on the history of the Speedway and learned how it fell into disarray after WWII.  Thanks to the efforts of one person who didn't want to see it disappear, it was returned to its true splendor and remains a fascinating world monument to this day.

One Person.  With troubles, doubts, physical ailments, and obstacles just like us.  There were so many more stories of individuals who started huge businesses, who thrilled on racing cars at speeds unheard of, who tested every limit not because they HAD to but simply because they could.

Something was driving them - pun intended - to go farther, faster - to know when to take a pit stop and pace themselves, but to not linger there too long. 

Just as I strive to do (and would guess many of You do), they did not live life out of necessity alone.  Something More drove them.

As the world changes around us and we go not ten miles an hour but sixty (or more), as we are connected with not just our neighbors though face-to-face talk but the world through online interaction, the fibers and nuts and bolts of our beings and every single thing we create are imprinted with our speed and drive. 

Every thing we touched or influenced throughout the day - as we settle into our beds each evening - settles into the story that becomes Our Collective life.

Take a second and think about the story your are creating.  What will relics from your life look like - both those physical items that will be left behind and those stories that will linger on in the memories and on the tongues of those who will survive long beyond your days?  With no speed limit signs in our own lives, pay attention to what speed you are living...how many pit stops you take, where you choose to linger.

For me, the yoga, the writing, the creating is a new, turbo fuel for me.  I can go longer, faster, with fewer pit stops.  I speed along Highway 66 (the movie CARS - ya gotta see it if you haven't), I linger at the beautiful waterfalls, the old towns with more stories than can be told in a lifetime, the pit stops where the children and I frolic around a water fountain and create pages in a story that I would be happy to have attributed to my life.

Enjoy the ride, loves, enjoy the ride.