Exploring Your World

 

My wife and I gave each other a unique gift this past Christmas.  We decided to get a NordicTrack studio cycle.  This piece of exercise equipment is much more than a spin class bike.  It is a virtual vacation every time you choose to use it.

The bike has a computer screen mounted to it that can take you virtually anywhere in the world.  Whether you choose to cycle or do a yoga class, you can be transported around the world with a tap on the screen.  This idea of getting from one place to another got me thinking and this story was born.

Growing up, our family didn't have a car until 1968.  Yes my dad had one, but my mom and the kids were land locked.  Our grandfather called one day with news we were getting a car and we literally began jumping up and down in celebration.  We would now be able to expand our world and realm of possibilities.

Before the car, we walked.  I remember we would all walk to the grocery store in the summer pulling a wagon behind us.  One day, a storm blew in and we ended up running for cover into some stranger's garage.

We also walked to school almost every day.  It is hard to imagine a kid 5 years old walking to kindergarten in this day and age, but after being escorted the first time, we were left to fend for ourselves.

Then came bicycles.  We began to cover more and more ground as we grew.  By our early teens, we began charting out epic adventures to far away places like Fox Lake and Kenosha.  Our horizons were broadened by how far we could pedal.

I didn't take a commercial airline flight until I was 18 years old.  I flew back from Houston after having driven there to help a friend's family move.  I remember thinking then the famous line, "Ours is the first generation to see the clouds from both sides."

Many years later, I would actually be flying a plane, temporarily, but flying none the less.  My horizons once again would be expanded.

So, as I write this, getting ready to go get on the Nordic Track to see some far away place as I pedal along, I can't help but think just how much you can see and do if you're limitations are removed.  Whatever obstacles are holding you back, here's to clearing them away in order for you to experience the life you've imagined.