“You are a traveler in our village, my Lady. You may wander as you like.”

Many years ago, in the age before TripAdvisor and Yelp, there lived a family who would hear of an interesting land and, lo, off they would journey to see what adventure they might find.

But, nowadays . . . we check every rating service we can find before we decide whether to embark on a trip. We listen to advice from K8tie123 and donho_14. We learn about the quality of the toilet paper in the restroom and the tone of voice the hostess uses while seating your party of five at a booth only big enough for three.

And then we begin to hem and haw.

“Well, maybe we should stick closer to home. That way if it isn’t good we haven’t wasted a lot of time.”

“The does cost seems sort of high. What if it is a big rip off?”

“Or… we might like it.”

We bite our lips and shrug. “Should we try it?”

Oh, I am so glad we did. And even then, as we pulled into the parking lot of the random historical re-enactment village off in the middle of the Washington countryside, we debated going in.

But, yay, thus we did enter. And behold… a grand adventure awaited us. With an archer who might teach us the fine art of archery, and a basket weaver who, yay, was still learning her craft, but spoke to us of her life as a serf of the feudal lord. We drank hearty of the ale and ate the days’ pottage. Our travels complete, we left, glad for our journey and eager to return again to this village borne before the age of reviews.

Camlann Medieval Village turned out to be our adventure although I suppose all real journeys begin with an adventurous spirit. Reviews can be helpful but I realized this weekend that whatever direction we go, if we wander with curiousity and an open mind, we will enjoy our journey. Here’s to your own, Journey Inspired by Love (of history.)

“People say all the time that I sound like Cinderella.”

Can you imagine any more perfect job for someone who sounds like a Disney Princess, than being a kids’ dental hygienist? What child isn’t going to listen and obey when Cinderella tells them to open wide, or floss better?

I suppose she could have chosen to do voice-overs, or acted as one of the princesses at Disneyland. Certainly she would have been hired. I’ve never met anyone with quite that sort of lovely, sing-songy voice (outside of a theme park). And yet… rather than the obvious, this young woman chose a dental career.

In an NPR program I heard once there was a student who felt he was a generalist, without any sort of specific passion. He inspired a team of economists to model the best way to choose a career. (I know I’m Supposed To Follow My Passion. But What If I don’t Have A Passion?)

“In the end, the three economists did not advise Max to pursue some particular career path. They didn't even give very specific advice. But they did all agree that Max's lack of a passion could work to his advantage. Pursuing a passion — especially if it's a popular passion — often doesn't pay very well” (Chana Joffe-Walt – Morning Edition, May 9, 2013)

Right now, as many graduates leave high school for college or college for work, the question remains, what should I do? Assuming that there is only one right answer is part of the problem. What motivates us when we are young is not necessarily the same thing that motivates us when we are older. But I disagree with the economists on NPR… I believe passion comes from aligning our unique talents, the strengths that make us who we are, and our interests. This passion won’t give us a career, but it will provide the inspiration, the fuel, for a well lived life.

I’d love to be able to wave a magic wand to help people identify what these strengths are. Sadly, I’ve never been very good at magic. Instead I have found identifying strengths takes hard work. It takes a willingness to try and fail at many different things. It also helps to have access to a great career counselor, many now have career tools which incorporate not only what you are good at, but also what motivates and interests you.

Perhaps next time I visit the dentist I will check with the hygienist to see which career counselor she used. Either they were very good at their job or she was lucky enough to be blessed with a very talented fairy godmother.

Mom: “Good job telling me you had to go to the bathroom.”
Child: “Uh huh.”
Mom: “Because do you remember last year when it was too late and they had to shut down the whole pool?”

Hard to contain the chuckle that bubbled up while I overheard this gem. I felt for both the mom and the child. But mostly, I patted myself on the back for having made it through those early days of rushed potty breaks. I’m pretty sure I kept, for nostalgia's sake, the $40 Disney Princess pants we had to buy when our overexcited daughter forgot to tell us she needed to ‘go’ at Disneyland one time.

Ironically, this overhear finally shifted me away from the frustration I had been feeling at our daughter, and her friend’s, behavior on our Lake Tahoe vacation. Eleven year olds who are best friends should be old enough to resolve disagreements, I thought. Are they really going to keep fighting over a stupid sticker book, I wondered? Argh (on more than one occasion) for just their general attitude.

I was reminded how easy it is to focus on the things that are right in front of us, the things we want, and overlook the things we already have.

Recently I decided to take stock of how I am doing in my life. Am I accomplishing what I want to? Do my actions mirror my values? You know… that kind of stuff. As I considered my values I realized it was really easy to pay attention to the ones I felt were not being fully met… like social connections or a sense of accomplishment. On the other hand, it was far more difficult to recall the values that were currently grounding my life, like independence, creativity and health.

So, although my daughter’s snarky comments antagonized me, I could breath a sigh of relief (while I sipped my mojito and watched her swim,) that at least I didn’t have to worry about her shutting down the pool… Now, being kicked out of it for dunking her friend, well that was another matter.