The more things change

I've been on the road a fair amount this year, and this week was more of the same. That's a change from my unusally geographically-limited existence. Unlike most Americans, I live in the town I grew up in. In retrospect I see that this has been part of the way I cope with the rapid (and increasingly rapid) pace of change. Whatever else may be in flux, I live in this town, on this road, in this house. And for me that works. While cruising down the Northway toward NYC with Brian Mann and Susan Sweeney Smith, I wondered aloud what people who changed their jobs and places of residences frequently did instead to put some kind of constancy in their lives, to provide touchpoints to connect and ground them. That evening we had occasion to dine with a genuine globetrotter and found that we (NCPR) provided one of his touchpoints. Wherever he found himself in his worklife, he would fire up the station's broadcast stream on his laptop and hear the sounds of home. That was a great "for instance" to hear, of course, but the larger question stays with me. In this world where the rush hour seems to be every hour, what are people doing to create the calm pools, the anchorages for their lives. Grab me by the shoulder as I speed by and let me know.