Pumpkins & Camping

I was looking through one of my friend's blog the other day and I saw a picture of her too-cute-for-words kids. I was thumbing through and found a picture of a typical American kid out in a pumpkin patch. There they were happy as can be looking for the perfect pumpkin to pick. When I saw that picture, one thought struck me, "Wow, that is so average."

Before you start getting all bunched up about pumpkin picking and how you have very fond memories from it, let me explain. I, too, had many a pumpkin patch experience growing up. Lots of 'em. We also did other neat things like take a 17 hour drive to Florida every Summer for a week's vacation to Disney World. We went camping every now and again and also had many other similar experiences with my folks.

There is a point. See, what struck me is that EVERYONE does things like that. People out there take their kids to do these things because 1. it's affordable, and 2. they've probably done it before as they were growing up. In fact, I went on google and looked up "pumpkin picking" in the images section and there were dozens upon dozens of pictures with people and their silly looking kids carrying an all too heavy pumpkin. Seriously, plenty of those pictures.

So, then, I typed in "first class family vacation" or "kids vacationing in Europe" and there weren't nearly as many options. Why? Why is it that you've most likely seen a picture of your kids or your friend's kids in a pumpkin field or in a campground, but most of you haven't seen a picture of your kids or your friend's kids in front of the Taj Mahal? or the Vatican? or in the Amazon? You get the picture!

We come to think that because things are "normal" and that everyone else does it, that it is acceptable (What did our mom tell us when we were kids about 'if others jumped off a cliff?). Well, what if on top of all these neat experiences we could also mix it up a bit next year and take that trip you've always wanted to take? How about when your child says she needs help with her report on France, you can say "Why don't we just fly to France and then you can report on what it's really like?" or even simpler, why not when a child hands you their college diploma you hand them a check to pay off the student loans they had to accrue in order to make it through?

See, whatever we come to accept as normal will be our reality. Unfortunately, most people accept mediocrity as normal, and therefore it appears in their lives over and over again. As I'm putting my bucket list together (which you can view so far under 'Archives June 2009) I am realizing the mental energy that it takes to dream and have vision. It takes thought to put a list of goals together and as Wallace Wattles has stated, "thinking is the hardest thing for a person to do, that is why one does so little of it."

Let's start dreaming bigger together. As our goals and vision grow, so will our desire to advance our station in life. Only by doing that can we take a lot of people with us along for the ride and truly improve the planet we inhabit.

GOOD BYE AVERAGE, HELLO EXTRAORDINARY!