the train stops here!

i hope you all had a fantastic thanksgiving. i did. we spent time with my folks in arizona and had a blast. i need to tell you...if you've never spent 12-14 hours straight in a minivan with 4 little kids...well....you just don't know what you're missing. :-) the upside of the travel times were some of the pit stops that we made. dinosaurs, surfers, the jonas brothers....well....you'll have to come back to hear/see more. (good tease?).

back to thanksgiving...first a little bit of background. my folks recently moved into an 'active adult' community...which basically means 'no kids allowed.' it's designed to appeal to the needs and desires of people as they enter their retirement years. these types of communities are pretty popular...you can even find one of your own. as we relaxed and chit chatted and relaxed and chit chatted...i started to think about the idea of 'getting older.' i started to wonder if i would want to live in a place like my folks do when i reach their age. i mean...i get it. i really do. young families, kids, retired folks all have different needs...so why not live in a community that best serves those needs? right?

but i think one element that might be missing from these age appropriate oasis are the benefits of the young co-mingling with the old...and vice versa. in historic family life, families spent most of their existence together. kids would grow, marry and start families of their own, but never too far from the parents. the kids...and grand kids were able to benefit from the experience and wisdom of the parents, grand parents, great grand parents and so on...because they lived in community with one another. i believe the same affect happened to the older generation as they lived around the younger...they were constantly witnessing new, young life with all of its passionate, ignorant fervor. the young almost teaching the older that life is still new...still fresh. i think this co-habitation...as annoying as it might be at times...is huge for the development of the young, and the refinement of the older.

i guess i realized that life's journey shouldn't have a destination. the train should keep rolling.

less of me.