I need a change. I have been thinking about it for quite awhile and I am almost ready for it. I have gotten too comfortable with my lot in life and I feel a change is coming in my old aching and decrepit bones. After all I have been back in my own home for a little over a month now with few deviations. I have a bit of the wanderlust in me. And I think I owe it to my great great uncle Rollo Walter Brown. I think he was a man with a bit of wanderlust in him.
Though I never had the pleasure of meeting Rollo since he died 4 years before I was born, I have learned to appreciate the man and the great author that he was. He was born in 1880 in Crooksville, Ohio and graduated from my alma mater, Ohio Northern University. He went further and received a Masters degree from Harvard University in 1905 and went on to teach English at several colleges. My father had a collection of his books that he inherited when his father died and those eventually went to one of my brothers. I have made it my mission to get a complete set of his books and I have done that with the exception of some articles in publications that he was featured in. I have made it a goal to read at least 4 of his books in the next few months–focusing on the ones that are a little more interesting to me!!!
One of his books is titled “I Travel By Train” and this is the first one that I am reading. It is a great story of his encounters with folks as he travels during the Depression and it makes me think that he did indeed have a bit of the wanderlust in him. Maybe not the hiking part but the strolling around part! Chris thinks it would be a great story to summarize Rollo’s book and then write my own adventures of traveling and the people I have met along the way and call it I Travel by Plane. It all sounds great but not sure that that is the book that is in me right now.
Change is good sometimes and I feel it coming. It might sneak up on me and surprise me somehow but I have become pretty adaptable over the years and accept it. I might start out slowly with the whole change idea. As I ponder change I have decided that the format of my blog is going to change pretty soon. I have always “done it myself” and I think that there are some changes that I want to make to make it easier to read and comment on (I am all about the Comments for a Cause, you know!) and I am going to enlist some hired guns to help me out. So don’t be surprised if the format that you got used to gets changed over time. Change is good. At least in this case.
How do you feel about change in your life? Is it easy or difficult for you?
It's Just Life 
Well I do love my routine in life. That being said, I also love to change things up! I’ve moved around a bit, which are probably the biggest changes I’ve had to deal with. Change is good, as long as it is anchored to something.
I think the moving part helps you adapt better to change. I have had my fair share of moves in my lifetime and I am sure I am not done yet. At least I hope I am not!!! I don’t want to stay in Iowa forever!!! 🙂 I like the last sentence you wrote—-it does have to be anchored to something!
If it isn’t anchored then you just have chaos. My better half, my animals, and my friends and family anchor me…and I love them for it.
Yep–totally right on that one!!!! My experience is the same!
I like change, most of the times, but it can be stressful.. I feel like I need change to, but I don’t see it happening…
Change just for change isn’t necessarily good—-you may not really need it!!! And change can just be a new pair of shoes, Hilary…..
True, change is good. I just like to know a bit ahead of time that it’s coming. I don’t do as well with sudden change. However, I have wanderlust, as well. We’ve been home for nearly a year now, and I’m ready to head off to a new place.
I love the book idea! It’s reallya good one, Beth Ann.
Hugs,
Kathy
Well I don’t think too many people probably embrace sudden change very well but I could be wrong!! I imagine that you are getting antsy to get going–what’s next on the agenda for you guys????
Thanks for this question. I think a lot of people don’t do well with changes but it’s understandable because we like to keep everything in order so to say. I personally welcome changes but maybe it has something to do with the fact that I like travelling around and all the different and new things that I see when I’m on the road make me more flexible to have changes in my life. So yes, say yes to changes.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!!! I like your attitude—I think I am like you in the fact that I like to have new experiences and travel and with that comes some change and often the unexpected which usually works out well. Not always but I usually end up with a good story as a result!!! 🙂 Welcome to It’s Just Life–great to have you here!
I think it depends on the change. I certainly agree that some changes are good all around. We made a big change with putting the kids in private school this year and it is the best thing we could have done for them and us!!! Can’t wait to see what the changes to your blog are going to be!!!! 🙂
Glad the school change worked out well! That is great! Changes to the blog will come over time….working on it but have been thinking about it for awhile!
Somebody else’s change is exciting to watch (as I am looking forward to see what you do with your blog format). Personally I think I am pretty adaptable when it comes to change. Short, temporary changes are great. Like a breath of fresh air. I seek those out and usually enjoy them to the fullest. Big changes, like moving, are a lot of work and, at my age, I am likely to be resisten unless it is a necessary move. But as photography is my hobby, I love going to new places, seeing different people … that is a good one. I am a people watcher … are you?
Andrea @From the Sol
Moving is a lot of work!! I totally agree with that!!! But I find it forces me to be organized and focused and sometimes that is lacking in my life!!!
And yes–I am definitely a people watcher!!!
Come see my new feature … Just started today. It is called Manly Monday. It gives you a chance to explore the concept of a Manly Man. Visit my blog and let me know what you think. Thanks …
Andrea @ From The Sol
http://www.fromthesol.blogspot.com
Hopping over now!!!
Though not always easy,
we must embrace the change,
for that, is what will keep us young
and I know, that may sound, strange.
Ps. I love Rollos..that caramel center with the milk chocolate outside… Oh great.. Thanks for reminding me Beth Ann..There goes the diet…Again..haaahaaahaaahaaa.
In Austin, TX there is a building that they call the Rollo building because it does, indeed, look like a Rollo—not the Brown type, either–though I guess they are brown…..
My niece and nephew live in Austin..I’ll have to ask about the bldg. Though my nephew will be moving here to the Boston area to take over the Northeast region for his company.. I loved your post, too.
I’m excited for your change, Beth Ann, and that you have embraced it. How wonderful that you have all of your great-great uncle’s books! Who knows? You may spark the rest of us to do something different.
Who knows, indeed! And it took me awhile to gather the collection but thanks to great online antique book sites I got them all–some are even signed which makes it even better!
I think change is usually good for a person as you can become pretty set in your ways and not open for new and interesting things. I think I do fairly well with change as I have had to or I would be a very unhappy person. I live alone now and must keep up with some of the changes in and around me.
I think you have done incredibly well over the years with change which is why I think I do! You passed it on to me!!!
As I tell my 15-year old daughter, change is one of the only certainties in life. I am sometimes good with it, sometimes not, but I tend to make sweeping, huge changes all at once, instead of one here and one there. Not sure if that really works for me, but it’s what I do. It will be interesting to see what changes are resonating and percolating within you and the blog.
I too suffer from hereditary wanderlust, so powerful it’s almost unbearable. I have a journal of grandfather’s time riding the rails around 1905 on which I’m basing a book that’s in the works. Like your uncle, I never met him – he died the year before I was born, but I was always told I would have been his favorite.
That is so wonderful that you have a journal from your grandfather’s time that you are basing your book on!!! That is so exciting!!! I can’t wait to hear all about it!!!!
I think I have had my share of change over the last few months so I am good on that aspect for a while! Ha! Looking forward to seeing what changes you will be making to your blog. Pretty exciting! Have a great day friend!
Yes, you certainly have and are probably quite ready for a break from it!!! Not sure when all the bloggy things will happen—I have someone “hired” and we are talking but this is not his day job so it may not happen quickly but I can wait!!!
Look forward to your new look Beth Ann. I like the look of your blog now, but a “change is as good as a rest” sometimes & may inspire in you who knows what! Wish I had the time & the know-how to do more with mine, but it will just have to wait for now (although I did figure out how to change the background color on Friday which made me somewhat proud).
I am a Sagittarius, so I also embrace change. Love my current condo, but not so happy with the condo board, so we’re thinking we’ll try to find something similar in layout in a different place (where they don’t mind if we leave our Christmas lights up past mid-February).
Don’t they know that leaving your lights up through Martin Luther King day is the way that the world is supposed to function! Gee whiz!!! I noticed your background color change! Good for you! I haven’t played around with mine for awhile and decided that sometimes it is better to let someone else do it who can get it done in a fraction of the time! We will see when it actually happens if I have communicated what I want effectively!!! 🙂
As I’ve gotten older I have become much more adaptable to change. Without change there is no growth, no new knowledge. I say go for the changes you want and don’t look back!
Great attitude!!!!
As far as change goes for me, I think I prefer to have the changes appear. Sometimes when I think about what to change, I give myself too many choices. I have enough decisions to make every day without creating more changes. : )
But what I really wanted to say is this… I really enjoy your writing and I would totally buy any book that you might write. As my husband said when I showed him this post, “Beth Ann has such a natural way of writing. It almost seems like she is just sitting here talking to you.” Yep! That’s what I have always liked about your letters and your posts. I think, too, that I would love to hear how God continues to work in your life in spite of all the changes.
That made me smile, Mary Ellen! I had someone tell me recently that reading my posts was like just curling up in a coffee house and having a chat with me so I am taking that as a compliment. I am just me. 🙂 Nothing fancy but your words made me really happy! Thanks!