Life is about the journey, not the destination. Ever think of that?

I just got Now, Now Every Children's new album "Cars" from my friend Kyle that I work with. This album is so refreshing! Let me know if you want it, and I'll send it your direction, otherwise you should definitely check them out. They are a duo from Minneapolis, and yes, I want to see their next show whenever it is... I'll look into it. Anyway, I'm listening to it right now and drinking an OK glass of Trader Joe's French Market 2006 Merlot (a wopping $5). Well I went back to work this week, which is good, I really enjoy my job and the people I work with, but not working was also nice. I really wish I could just take 2 weeks off, but not have plans, just do whatever. I guess I could do that, but it's hard when you're married and have family events and you have to worry about damn vacation time. Oh well, life is never going to be perfect in my selfish eyes and I think that it's important that I remind myself that. In Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell discusses the term perfect and what that means. Perfect basically means that it's finished, that it's as good as it gets. Life, ourselves and our experiences are never finished (perfect) because they are living, ever-changing things. Here's a feeble example, these are the types of things I think about all the time... let's think about that tire iron in your trunk, (the wrench you use to take your car's wheel of if you have a flat) right now you have no need for that wrench and it's the last thing on your mind. Lets say you are driving tomorrow in 0° MN temperatures, and you get a flat. You need to fix the flat by putting your spare tire on. Now, suddenly, due to alive and changing circumstances, that tire iron becomes one of the most valuable objects in your life at that time. Thinking like this blows my mind, it's even more intense when you think like this about things you need for survival like water, shelter, etc. So, maybe my example doesn't relate to you, but I view my life and experiences in the same way. The value of things, people and beliefs are all relative to my life and what I'm going through. This whole world is so damn far from perfect, and far from being finished. I'm terrible at relating my writings to the titles I give them, so let me try to get back to the topic. I guess it kind of correlates to what I was just rambling about. A lot of my thoughts right now are inspired from Velvet Elvis, this book has been a much needed saviour to me. A lot of the book is self evaluation and less educational. It points out the things that you know, but it makes you think about them with intention, which sometimes is what we need. If I try to have the attitude that life's meaning and truths is in the journey and not the destination, just look at how drastically things would change. I would not view my job as a stepping stone to get to the next place in my career, rather I would value each day as the pinnacle of my career. I would view every interaction with a friend, (or person) as valuable and not take random hang-outs in vain. Living in this way is one of the most dramatice lifestyle changes that I can fathom, becuase it's not simply making a single choice, but it's agreeing to make an infinite amount of choices for the rest of your life in the name of truth (sound familiar). My best friends Jake and Lizzie and their baby (I think they should name it Lydia if it's a girl and Sebastian if it's a boy) recently were in town and now they have left to go back to their current day, social-minority-war that they experience on a Native American reservation in Pine Ridge, SD. Aside from getting spanked by Jake at our last 2 games of chess, I really enjoyed hanging out with them. There's something soothing about hanging out with the Ladd's because I seldom think that they have an agenda or expecations when we're hanging out. It's almost as if they are literally living in the now, and that's all that they are concerned with (which I know isn't exactly true). But it causes people like me, who have a plan or intentions for everything to slow down, lay back a bit and just be concerned with the current time. Anyway, for that, I am thankful, so thanks Ladds. I'm sitting here writing this and I looking around our apartment, I see Rocky, our male cat just sitting and looking around... I wonder what he's thinking? Is he just thinking about his next meal? Is he thinking about how I yelled at him with my angry voice when he jumped up on the computer desk earlier? Just watching him makes me realize how little control I have in life. This seems to be a common occurance lately, that random things help me to realize this. Well, I'm sure most everyone quit reading this when I started talking about our cat, so I will stop here. If you gain anything after reading this, just think that living life for the journey and not the destination is a constant lifestyle choice. Peace.