Reflecting

We are at the point where boxes are accumulating in the dining room, drawers are being cleaned out and the moving truck has been reserved. We've crossed almost everything off our DC bucket list, and have made the necessary plans to cross the rest off in the next few days. Over the weekend, we did a couple of things that were on my list, like photographing some of the monuments at night and taking a 3 mile run on the National Mall.

The boys weren't really on board with the last one there, but I reminded them  of the number of times I've been to see C3PO in the Museum of American History and they decided to not gripe too much about it.



Running past these monuments was like being in a movie.  I don't know exactly how to explain it, but I felt like part of something much larger than myself. I've been on the mall a hundred times over the past couple of years, but it's never ceased being inspiring to me. The men to whom these monuments are dedicated were just men, not gods, but they stepped outside of their comfortable lives to make sacrifices for a purpose larger than themselves.

They lived epic lives.

I want to live an epic life, don't you? It won't be on the scale that Washington or Lincoln or Jefferson lived, but I don't want to go through life just making the motions and hoping not to rock the boat too much. I want to rock the boat. I want to shake things up. I don't want to do it for the sake of monuments or glory or fame or fortune, but rather because I believe life is meant to be lived epically, and I want to be an example of that for my kids.

If we each were to step out and do something impressively great, instead of passively mediocre, how would it add up? If every person in our sphere of influence were then to step up and do something bold or grandiose, how quickly would that ripple across the country? We need an epic movement of epic actions. We need inspiration and selfless acts of greatness to wake this world up and set it on fire.

So, while I'm packing up my house here, and preparing to move back to Knoxville, I'll be searching for ideas - small steps toward living an epic life. It's going to involve a lot of stepping outside of my nice little cocoon and spreading my wings a bit, but I'm going to do it.

(Ideas are welcome...)