It’s easy to imagine that everyone is experiencing the same weather. The sunny and 80 degrees are beginning to drop as we head out of California. I have to admit, I often forgot that it was still winter. While I was wearing shorts, most were bundled.
And that’s the thing, I suppose, we adapt to our surroundings perhaps just a little too easily. We come to believe that everyone is having the same experience. Living the same life. The same wants and needs as our inner circles. But it’s just not true.
It becomes more clear when you roam the country. The variances from state to state, from city to city, from neighborhood to neighborhood are extraordinary. It doesn’t always make clear why people make the choices they make, but it does explain why the choices are different.
Has it always been this way? I think I first noticed the difference when I was in grade school. My world, of course, was Van Dyke Road. I was aware of the change from gravel to pavement. I had ridden my bike beyond our road, onto the tar, around the lake, over the railroad tracks, past Big Ole into town, a million times. But it only became truly clear when I went for a sleepover to Barbie’s house in Victoria Heights. Was it the move from road to heights? The change from Van Dyke to Victoria? I wasn’t sure. But it was different. They called it a development. I didn’t have the words for it then, but it sounded important. And my mental vocabulary told me that it was different. But that different to me, never meant bad. I wore my gravel like a badge, and I rode on.
When did it become bad — this different? I’d like to think it hasn’t for me, but am I paying attention. I have to pay attention. We all have to pay attention. We all change and grow at different times. And some don’t get the luxury of either. The weather is changing. The very climates of our being.
I don’t have the answers, but I do believe in the randomness of it all. Life is constant change. In this we can take comfort. I am reminded of the quote by Hal Borland: “No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.” I’m counting on it. May we all.
