The Open Road

In a couple days I will embark on what is going to most definitely be the highlight of my summer, or at least part of the highlight. On Thursday I am going to head to Brookings, SD for the ultimate tournament I spoke of in a post last month. Then the loop of friend visiting with the addition of a trip to New York to see a friend who has an internship with MLB.com. That will be pretty exciting, spending a weekend in NYC, the night life should be amazing.

The Cornman Triathlon was scratched from the schedule with this addition of Big Creek. An upgrade in distance from sprint to olympic. Yikes! I maybe could have trained a little bit more for it but this is more for fun than results. And the trip to Wyoming has yet to happen, although a 5-day trip to The Boundary Waters with my dad is in the plans (Aug. 25). That is part two of the summer highlight. That will be some good father-son bonding time before the Marines take me in October.

American writer Caskie Stinnett once said, "I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine." I heard this quote at the beginning of summer and have been able to really think about it and what it means. I mean there is no deep meaning to it, pretty straight forward. But at this point in my life I would have to whole-heartedly agree with what she is saying. And as I look around, I have friends who are married, who have already had a kid, and who at the ages 21, 22, or 23 have set up shop for the rest of their life. Sure they might still do some traveling in the form of a week-long vacation backpacking through Europe or whatever, but it just blows my mind. Because although that is still traveling, it is not the traveling like I am about to embark on.

I am about to leave for South Dakota, and there is a rough outline of my plans. But at the same time, there is nothing stopping me from all of a sudden changing things a going somewhere else. And yes, at some point I want, as I feel everyone else does, someone to settle down with and to fall into a routine. But I feel as though all my friends that are settling right now are doing it because that is the blueprint. You meet someone in college, you fall in love, you graduate and the next step is a combination job/house/spouse. Personally I don't think that at the age of 22 I know what I really want. And maybe some people will say that isn't necessarily a good thing, but I have seen some of these people who are settling and I would say they are no more ready than I am.

Ultimately I think our culture is undergoing a change. I think we are straying away from the normal, the married with 2.5 kids plan. Recently, Dara Torres just became the first woman to qualify for 5 Olympics in swimming. She is 41, has a two year old daughter, no husband, and happier than ever. That is what I feel America is gravitating towards. Although I believe that we are a very social species with a strong need for companionship, I think our idea of companionship is changing. No longer do we NEED marriage to feel complete. Don't get me wrong, I am not completely writing off marriage. My sister and brother-in-law seem to be having the greatest time with their three kids and marriage. And I am happy for them, because that is what makes them happy. But I see some people who force the marriage, and you can just read them that they aren't happy.

At this point in my life I do not think I will need marriage. I do know that I need a close group of friends. I had that in college and had the time of my life. I am soon going to be in the Marines, a brotherhood of people that I know will literally kill someone if it means protecting me. I also like female companionship, but not necessarily a defined relationship. I need a female point of view just as much as I need male point of views in my life. You can talk to women about things that you can't with men...simple as that.

To bring things to a close, soon I am going to head out for a while. Hopefully I keep this updated with stories of my travels. Hopefully there are stories to tell. While some of my friends are writing the last few chapters of their lives, I think I just broke out of the introduction.