Meet me in St. Louis

I've been past the Saint Louis Arch a few times. Seeing it from the interstate, in a car, while driving 70 miles an hour is not at all the same as stopping, parking and walking up to it, being close enough to touch it. Being overwhelmed by the sheer size of it. The tram ride was sold out so we couldn't go to the top, but we went inside and enjoyed the air conditioned museum.

I am making a conscious effort to do more stopping, making time for more up close interaction, not settling for a life filled with drive by experiences. And I'm finding that the cost is higher. In time. In energy. In focus. In weighing what is best over what would be good. Some days it is exhausting, other times it is exhilarating. Some days I make good choices, other times I totally blow it.

Standing with Deborah I had a flashback to having a picture taken with her at the Arctic Circle monument in Northern Siberia in 2015. Of the picture of Bill with her when he went in 2013. Life, as much as it changes, still has some things that are changeless. One of them is the value of relationships and of how past experiences build the foundation of future experiences. And how the richness of healthy relationships far outweighs the work it takes to build them.