Memorial Day jump starts summer time with the first long weekend in a while. It has warmed up in most parts of the country, and the spring green is fabulous. Visiting the Chicago Botanical Gardens, the last tulips were barely hanging in there and the Rhododendron were gorgeous. As summer starts, everyone we spoke with expressed pleasure or excitement at the prospect.
I’d like to suggest something that is potentially revolutionary: go some place new this summer. Don’t go back to the same beach, the same restaurants, the same parks. Use an app to find a new adventure for the same amount of time and price that you would have otherwise spent.
While you are there, talk with someone you never spoke with before. Ask them what they like about the place. It seems like people here live in the same area as their parents. If they move away for college they tend to move to the city when single then back to the suburbs when they have a family. Not many folks are from somewhere else.
It turns out that people are not moving around the U.S. like they did in the past. That contributes to our sense that people in other states are different from “us”. That is not really true. We are so much more alike than different. When we engage in conversation, we tend to learn from each other. This is as true if you travel outside the US as it is to travel internally to another state or across town.
If all this seems too much for you, go try some food at a restaurant near you that you never ate before. Talk to the server who may be from that locale. Ask them about themselves. Ask about the food.
As summer starts, you can have an adventure very close to home or across the planet. If you are lucky, you will get to do both.
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