#THEDAD

Yeah, yeah. I know what you are all thinking. I have professed my undying love for Europe enough, but the truth is no matter how much I love it there, I will always miss some things about the US when I am overseas. It’s the catch-22 that is greener grass; it always is on the other side. So without further adieu, here are 5 things that I (desperately) miss when I am abroad. 

1: Washers and Dryers

           This one is HUGE for me. Sure there are washers over there, but they are ALWAYS weirdly in the kitchen and are usually never accompanied by a dryer. On the rare chance that there is a dryer, it is probably in a separate room and is nothing like the dryer you think of. No, the dryers over there are tiny, require you to empty a little bottle of water after every load, and they take like 25 years to dry your clothes. They are called condenser dryers and they work like a dehumidifier: sucking all the water out of your clothes and dumping that water into a small, impossible to remove bottle, that is located very inconveniently, somewhere on the machine. I think European washers and dryers are meant to wash one single piece of clothing at a time. Despite the fact that there are occasionally dryers, there usually isn’t which, consequently, means you can have dry clothes tomorrow after leaving them on a rack overnight. However, rest assured that it’s ok because they will be nicely ROCK SOLID when you go to put them on. I miss my oversized washer and dryer when I’m gone, because like any good American I can do 3 months of laundry in one load, I can destroy the environment, and have clean, SOFT clothes in a little over an hour. This is one thing, we certainly got right.

2: Milk

           I consume milk like a 4-year-old boy. Not kidding. I literally go through about 2 gallons a week when I am home and yes I just drink it. I pour it in a glass and usually just chug the stuff. Milk in the United States is sold cold and in giant jugs. Most milk in Europe is sold warm, in tiny containers, and off the shelf as if it were a box of cereal. It’s actually really hard to find milk that is sold cold and even when you do, it’s usually just the same stuff put into a refrigerator. I’ll never forget rounding the corner at a grocery store in London, the sign above the aisle listed Cereal, Table Sauces, and Long Life Milk. I don’t know about you, but I prefer my milk cold, fresh, and short lived.

3: Midwestern Weather

           Hot, humid, and miserable. You’d think I couldn’t possibly miss something like that, but I do. Sure I get plenty of winter in Europe and the fall is beautiful, but there is nothing quite like a Midwestern spring and summer. I am talking about 80 degree days in March and October and about 105 degree days in July. There is nothing like a good sweat to make you feel real and only can the Midwestern United States satisfy that need.

4: Credit Card Acceptance

           For better or for worse, we live in a culture of debt. I use my credit card for absolutely everything. I have no shame in using my card for something that costs 24 cents either. As I have said before, using my card earns me Delta miles and I always pay it off, so why not? Europe doesn’t share this same affinity for debt. It is difficult in most instances to use a credit card and if you do find it easy to use one, that means you are in a very touristy area that is preying on your liberal use of it. I find cash a hassle. I never have it, but in Europe you’re going to need it. I miss my empty wallet when I am abroad. Credit is safe, secure, and not too distressing when you lose a card, while losing a large stack of cash is devastating.

5: Sports

In the blink of an eye it’s gone. Like anything you look forward to, it comes and goes way too fast. Every year my birthday is surrounded by three incredible sporting events. Sometimes those incredible sporting events fall on my birthday and even on the years where none of them do, I still consider them the greatest gift I can receive. They are always the same three events and they are usually in the same order. I am talking about the NCAA tournament championship, opening day of the new baseball season, and, more important than the other two combined, The Masters.

Yes, it truly is a tradition unlike any other, but not for the reasons it is for most. These three events, like the ephemeral excitement of spring and life anew, go faster than Jim Nantz can say “Hello Friends.” Every year the early adverts send shivers down my spine; the unmistakable piano riff, the Tiger roars, and the words “Coming this Spring” flashing across the screen. The crack of the bat and One Shining Moment all mean one thing to me: spring is here with it’s beautiful hues of green, relentless bird chirping, and the unwavering optimism that accompanies it.

Happy Birthday Luke! Happy Birthday Flowers! Happy Birthday Trees! Happy Birthday EVERYONE, because winter is over and your unbridled enthusiasm for Slip-N-Slides, Hot Dogs, and Short Pants can return. School isn’t out for the summer, but it might as well be. We have 5 months of wet, hot bliss on the way and what a better way to commence it than The Masters.

I don’t post blogs often, which usually spells doom for a blog. I know that my readership suffers as result of my post frequency, but I don’t care and here’s why. I write all the time. I start a lot of would be blog posts. Some of them get finished and some of them do not. They say in order for blogs to be successful you have to publish relevant content often. I don’t blog for fame or for money; that has never and will never be my intention. The blogs I post mean something to me. They are well thought out and well written. I hope they mean something to the people who read them, but the reason I don’t post everything I write is because I want my words to mean something…to me.

Could I write more? Yes. Could I post more? Yes. But I don’t do this for the reader; I do it for the writer. If it means I never have a ‘successful’ blog, so be it. The only critic that matters to this blog, is the blogger himself.

On with today’s blog: 8 ways traveling is cheap, easy, and fun.

Next Monday, I leave for Croatia. On this trip I am going to see Paris (briefly), Zagreb, Croatia, Ljubljana, Slovenia, somewhere in Austria (undecided), Neuschwanstein Castle (finally!), Munich (my favorite city in the world), Prague (potentially), Berlin, and Düsseldorf/Köln (also finally!). I will be gone for a little over two weeks and I will be spending some much needed time with a great friend from high school. I can’t wait to see what happens during our time there. We will blog, vlog, Tweet, and Instagram along the way, so follow me on Twitter/Instagram @lukemill to keep up with our shenanigans.

PS: I am flying on an A380, the world’s biggest passenger jet (see picture)…I am both excited and terrified.

People always ask me why I travel so much and how I travel so much, so here are 8 answers to those questions. I will alternate between why and how in various ways.

1)   Why do I travel so much?

Think for just one second about how small you are. I always get the most perspective when I look down on a city from an airplane. When I fly over New York City, I always think about how there are 10 million plus people down on that little island. There are infants that have been alive for minutes, there are elderly who have been alive for decades, there are tourists from the other side of the world, and there are people who have never left the city. When I first started to grasp how little I was and how big this world is I realized how desperately I wanted to see as much of it as I could.

Bottom Line: I travel, because it gives little me so much perspective about this great, big world.

2)   How do I travel so much?

Traveling well and traveling often are all about making some choices regarding how you prefer to travel. Some people care about what they do when they travel, some people care about how they sleep when the travel, some people care about how they get to and from their destination, some people don’t care about anything at all. For me, travel is about being somewhere. I don’t care where I sleep or what I necessarily do; I just care about being there.

The most expensive part of the way I travel is getting there or the flight. So I do everything I can to make flights cheaper. I do this by choosing to make airlines important year-round. This is why I only fly Delta or Delta partners. After years of doing so I have Platinum status, which affords me some amazing perks, but I don’t just fly Delta for pleasure. I also fly it for business. When you can mix business and pleasure, kudos to you, you are doing it right. By choosing to fly Delta exclusively, I am able to rack up beaucoup points with work travel that I can in turn use to travel personally for pennies on the dollar. In the last three years I have traveled to London, Paris, Genoa, Munich, Amsterdam, Prague, Berlin, Lichtenstein (Vaduz), Stuttgart, Milan, Salzburg, Zurich, Turin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva…and more for less than $400 and 180,000 SkyMiles – and those are miles that were mostly earned through work travel.

You could do the same with hotel loyalty too, but for me flights are the most expensive part. By being airline loyal, I significantly reduce the cost of flights. Over time I have learned how to work the system to my advantage by utilizing open jaws, stopovers, and other airline lingo that amounts to more places and more time.

Bottom Line: I travel as much as I do, because I have to for work and by taking advantage of that (airline loyalty) I am able to accrue miles that eventually lead to personal travel.

3)   Why do I travel so much?

This one is easy: culture. There is nothing like realizing how different or how similar you are to another culture. I think we all have this grandiose vision of what other countries and cultures will be like, but it’s really fun to realize we are all humans, that breathe air, and eat food. On the flipside of that equation it’s incredibly shocking to see how normal it is for people to eat blood pudding or drink beer anytime of day, but it’s shocking in a completely refreshing way. We Americans are so ethnocentric, but there are plenty of countries in this world that rival or even better ours. So slide your unbridled, American hubris to the side for a second, lower ‘Old Glory’, and raise the world flag, because god bless the E-A-R-T-H.

Bottom Line: It’s fun to see how human we all are.

4)   How do I travel so much? 

This one kind of goes in tandem with number two, but I think it deserves it’s own answer. Credit card companies literally hand you free shit. There are cards that earn points for shopping at the Mall of America, there are cards that earn points for dining at fine dining establishments across the country, there are cards that earn points for hotel stays, there are cards that earn airline miles…well you get the point: there are cards for just about anything you are interested in. So once you have picked what is important to you about travel (hotels, airline, shopping, etc.) then you should pick a card that can help supplement your earning potential.

Credit cards can be a scary proposition, but if you pay your balance in full every month you are literally getting free stuff for money you would have spent anyways. I run almost 95% of my transactions through my Delta AMEX card. I have one for business and one for pleasure, but my spend each year helps me earn a higher status, more miles, and even bonus points for hitting various milestones. It blows my mind when people use cash or their debit card to make purchases. Take the money (points) and run (travel)!

Bottom Line: These are free points that are being handed to you. If it aligns with your interests, there is no point in not having a credit card help you reach your goals: especially if you are responsible. 

5)   Why do I travel so much?

Because I can! With all these points I am earning, why wouldn’t I? I do it for business already and I am earning points like crazy, so I’m not just going to let them sit in my SkyMiles account. Even with points, tickets still have a small monetary fee and I prepare for this fee (and other travel expenses) by maintaining a separate ‘travel’ bank account that I sporadically throw cash at. Doing this over time really helps to make things affordable when I travel. I really don’t spend much money on other things when I’m home, so if travel is something you want, make the lifestyle changes that can make it happen. You don’t have to be rich to travel, you just have to be savvy.

Bottom Line: I have the points, I have the time, I have the ‘money’, so I go.

6)   How do I travel so much?

Because I make it a priority. Sure my job (freelance marketer) gives me a lot more freedom than most with fulltime jobs, but I am witness to a lot of miserable friends that are slogging through a horrible job. I am also firmly aware of the fact that most Americans don’t use a large chunk (or sometimes any) of their vacation time. The world averages 26 vacation days (paid or holiday), while the US average is only 13. The United States requires employers to give their employees a grand total of 0 paid vacation days per year, where most developed nations require at least 10. Despite no legal requirement, most decent employers offer employees paid time off. It is bewildering to me that most of that time goes unused.

TAKE YOUR VACATION PEOPLE! It will keep you sane and it will allow you to…go on vacations.

Bottom Line: I make traveling a priority in my life. Even when I am scared or worried about money, time, or anything else I still make it a priority. Quit your shitty job, take your GIVEN vacation time, book a ticket, commit, make it real!

7)   Why do I travel so much?

Because it is important to me and it is important to me now. I am in my 20’s. I am young, spry, naïve, ambitious, and eager. I would rather spend the time and money now then when I’m 65. Traveling at this point in my life is so exhilarating. I don’t care if I sleep in a hostel. I don’t care if I hitchhike a ride. I don’t care if spend the night in a train station. These are probably things I won’t want to do when I’m 65, so I choose to do them now. It makes travel exciting, unexpected, spontaneous, and full of stories. I’d rather gather the grandkids around the dinner table and tell them my travel stories from my 20’s than any other scenario. I have a lot of living to do and I am doing it now.

Bottom Line: Evaluate what matters most to you in life. A full retirement account, so you can have the nicest scooter in town or full memory of incredible travel tales. That one is easy for me.

8)   How do I travel so much?

Because I don’t spend a ton of money when I do it. Part of the glory of traveling is the ‘been there, done that’ feeling you get as you cross each border. I think a lot of people think I live this ultra chic, high dollar lifestyle, but the truth is I just do what I can to make it work. Almost all of my international flights have been booked with points that I earn through work travel, I usually stay in hostels, I eat cheaply, and I don’t do a ton of (paid) touristy things. I’ve even traveled enough at this point that I have friends in other countries that I can stay with.

Bottom Line: You don’t have to travel like a billionaire to travel well. Fly with points, utilize ride share programs, stay in less luxurious sleeping arrangements, eat street food (it’s cheap and authentic), and find ways to experience a location without getting suckered into high dollar tourist activities.

Bottom, Bottom Line: This blog may seem completely dedicated to travel, but I hope some of you read between the lines. I started out talking about why I don’t blog that often, then I transitioned into tidbits about travel, but did anyone notice how passionate I am about those tidbits? Sure, this blog is filled with great travel advice, but this is about doing what you love, what makes YOU happy. If it’s writing, write. If it’s traveling, travel. If it’s exercising, exercise. You are never stuck in life. If you hate your job quit, if you wish you could live in another city move, if you want to be a chef cook.

I leave you with this quote from Henry David Thoreau:

“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

SING! 

It’s over folks. The end.

Don’t get me wrong. I am a Midwest boy at heart (and Michigan people don’t get me started – you are not in the Midwest or anywhere close). I grew up with this. This is normal. It always ends like this.

And it causes me crippling, unwavering depression.

Up here (re: north) it is ephemeral. A fleeting glimmer of wonder that happens for not very long every year. Summer is over. Unfortunately, this is how it goes. It seems like it will never get here and then it’s gone.

It used to last a little longer than it does now. Target and Walmart start summer’s eulogy a little earlier each year. School supplies shouldn’t come out until at least August, but I think they arrived in June this year.

August hurts enough already. Sheer mention of that month makes me cringe.  As each day passes another something reminds us of the impending departure of warmth, but none more powerful than Labor Day.

They say Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer and Labor Day is the unofficial end, but let’s face it; summer arrives like a sketchy thug at red light – a slow creep, rims still spinnin’. Memorial Day isn’t the start of summer. It’s the longer days and warm weather that arrive in April. It’s the 90 degree Wednesday in May that warrants a call into work because you’re “sick.” It’s a switch in your brain that says, “Yeah, I can wear short pants again.” Summer is a state of mind.

However, it’s as much as state of mind as thinking you are going to win the lottery when you pick up a Powerball ticket at the corner store. A state of mind that can be crushed by the unfair reality that Cletus in southern Arkansas just won or by the edges of a green leaf on your favorite tree going orange.

Summer’s is akin to a hot beverage: that first sip is wonderful, but you know you took it too early – you may have even burned yourself, as if you didn’t remember how damaging this heat can be. You must be patient and enjoy it as it becomes tolerable, sip by sip until it is just right, and then before you know it you are left with the last few drops of cold reality. It doesn’t taste as good as it once did, it’s too close to the end, it’s too cold, but you drink it anyways knowing that you can’t just go buy another summer, you will have to wait through the hours of dark, chilly, uncertainty until morning comes and it begins again.

Summer is over. Drink what remains in your cup, but know that this cup of joe has been sitting on your desk for too long. It’s cold, it’s getting colder, and there is no microwave in sight.

Happy Labor Day! Go grab yourself a pumpkin spice latte, you’re going to need it – winter is here.

Hey you! Yeah, you; the one reading this. This article isn’t for you. No, this article is for your parents, grandparents, or some other person born before 1980. This is an article about soccer or football or association football (which coincidentally is why we call it soccer: a convoluted abbreviation of the word association with a completely different pronunciation and an ER for effect). But whatever you want to call it, just know that this is an article about that or, more specifically, the World Cup.

Why does the World Cup matter so much? To us? To our generation and not to yours?

Why doesn’t the World Cup get your blood pressure up like helmets smashing together on Sunday afternoon? Like a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 15th? Like a big hit along the boards or a slam dunk over a helpless center? Well, it does for us. It really does. More than any of the things listed above.

But why can’t you get on board? Is it un-American to like soccer? It can’t be difficult to understand, right? It couldn’t possibly be considered boring. Too many flops? Not enough offense? What is it?

I think I know what it is: we’re not dominant. It’s that one sport that we didn’t invent, so we can never be relevant. But why is this thought process acceptable for soccer? I mean, we’re Americans, we win everything! Or at least we CAN! …except soccer. So you look at it and think that we are inferior in every way, that we will never win, that we will never get better. So go ahead turn a blind eye and let’s get back to SOME REAL SPORTS, right?

The World Cup is played only every four years. If you measure your life in World Cups, you’ll be lucky to see 15 you can remember.

Every baseball, football, basketball, and hockey team get a fresh shot at the title every year – college or pro. If you measure your life in seasons, you’ll likely see 70 or more – most of which you’ll choose to forget.

The first World Cup I remember is 1994. The US were the host nation. I was 8 years old. I don’t remember much, but I remember being in a pool in Orlando when all the adults started hooping and hollering inside. Brazil was going to penalty kicks versus Italy – Brazil won. I remember 1998 in France, when the host nation won. I remember staying up to watch games at 4AM in 2002, because that’s when they were live from Korea - Brazil won again. I remember the exact address I was at for the opening game of 2006: an acquaintance’s house – a person I don’t even talk to anymore - Italy won. I remember watching Landon Donovan score the game-winning goal against Algeria in a club lounge at Citi Field, while leaving a Mets game - Spain won. I didn't choose to remember these things, I just do. That's how memories work, the things that matter are the things that are remembered. The World Cup matters. A stage so big and bright, yet so harrowing and humbling.

So where’s the love? Where is the passion for a sport that EVERY. OTHER. COUNTRY. lives and dies for?

I don’t get it and I never will, but I can tell you this:

This isn’t an article about soccer. It’s an article about us: Millenials. The US Men’s National Team is faced with steep odds cup after cup. None more apparent then this year’s placement in the ‘Group of Death.’ We have been through hell and high water as young adults navigating a broken, top heavy economy, crumbling environment, bursting bubbles, and relentless war, both home and abroad.

But go ahead Dad, to the other room where you can watch that meaningless, midseason baseball game. Go ahead family, start dinner without me. Go ahead and shrug this off like the other ‘weird’ stuff my generation likes and does.

This is as much about the World Cup as it is a metaphor to our generation:  unwavering optimism, pesky determination, staggering fortitude, and an insatiable appetite for the win.

But this is us. This is what we do. We want the world. The US Men’s National Team is the definition of our generation. They want the World Cup and we believe that they will win. We want the WORLD and I, meaning each and every single one of us, believe that WE WILL WIN.

For the past three weeks, I have have been in Europe. I have been to London, Paris, Geneva, Turin, Genoa, Milan, Locarno, Zurich, Basel, Munich, and Berlin. My eyes have laid upon Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, The Eiffel Tower, The Arc de Triumph, The Jet d’Eau, The Mediterranean Sea, and more. I have been in locations that hosted Olympics, I have stood in squares that were devastated by war, I have been in places that witnessed terrorism first hand, and I have touched buildings older than the country I am from. Europe is an amazing place, with a lot to see. It’s funny the perspective you get when you are in an airplane. Cities look much smaller than they are. On a clear day you can see the edges of big cities from side to side. You feel small, but big at the same time. Then you land and realize that the machine you just got out of is MASSIVE and just carried 500 people over an ocean for 12 hours. And then you realize the airport you are in is GIGANTIC and you wish you were in terminal A instead of F, because you now have a 20 minute train ride just to get your bag. And then you step outside and think to yourself “Damn, this city is BIG.”

But then another funny thing starts to happen. You interact with people. You observe culture. You meet people from the US, who speak English, who are wearing college t-shirts, and you love it. You relate to someone from Florida, not because you really relate to them at all, but because they are from somewhere you are familiar with. Had this encounter happened in the US you would have shrugged it off, but because you are abroad you relate.

I love to travel. I love to see new things and meet new people, but there is an under-looked aspect of travel. I have thought for the past two years that I wanted to live in Germany. It’s a great country and an amazing culture. I speak German and I really wanted to master the language. But guess what? It isn’t my culture. It isn’t my home. I speak English and I do it pretty damn well. I write English and I ain’t too bad at that either. I hear English and my brain understands it with zero effort. I have a lot to learn. Maybe I should master my own tongue before I try another?

There is a lot about the US I want to see changed. Politically we have a long way to go, culturally we have a long way to go, but we aren’t the only country with problems. Just because one country does something better doesn’t mean that they don’t have an equally grave problem in another department. We are encouraged to be the change we wish to see in the world. It’s tough in a country as big as ours, but look at how remarkably similar we actually are from Seattle to Miami. Travel the same distance in Europe and see how removed you are. We have 50 states that cover a larger area than all of Europe. What is as simple as going from Nevada to California in the USA is the same as going from Germany to France in Europe, but in the US it is the same language, the same grocery stores, and the same highway system. Our country still needs a little glue to hold us together, but we have some pretty damn strong glue already. Portland is Orlando, Boston is Los Angeles, Omaha is Anchorage.

Travel is amazing. This enormous planet is filled with beauty everywhere, but there is plenty of it packed within our borders. This earth is huge. Our country is big.

But isn’t it ironic what we seek out when we travel or are away from home? We travel to get away. We travel to see new things, but seek home in everything we do. Whether we travel overseas or down the highway, we ask questions like “Where are you from?” and “Where did you go to high school?”. We are excited by hearing our language (English) or our dialect (Midwestern). We are delighted by the sight of brands or foods from home. We seek a “small world” on this big planet and we are ‘shocked’ that “That guy is from Missouri,” but we shouldn’t be because we seek it. We seek things we long for, we seek things we miss.

I miss peanut butter, I miss (god help me) Wal-Mart, I miss 7 digit phone numbers, I miss being able to call the bordering ‘state’ without it being long distance, I miss the smells, I miss the weather, I miss the person reading this, I miss the bane of American existence known as television, I miss free parking, I miss the miles between us that can be reached by car, I miss outlets that accept my devices without an adapter, I miss hearing my phone ring, I miss country music, I miss a lot, but I know where to seek all of them.

The reward of traveling isn’t the destination, it’s the journey right? Wrong.

The reward of traveling is the destination, because the destination when you travel is ultimately home. This is why we call it traveling and not moving, because you always come home when you travel. When I return home I will miss traveling and I will travel again. I hope I travel often and I hope it just as rewarding every time, because the reward of traveling is the destination and home is a reward I will never tire of.

Safe travels!

Welp! It’s here…another day of reckoning, another new beginning, another chapter closed – albeit a chapter I thought I had closed before. Yep, that’s right I am moving again and this time there is NO WAY I am coming back to Columbia – I PROMISE! The next 10 weeks or so are going to melt my mind, but it is SO worth it. I will go to Miami, New York, London, Paris, Nice, Genoa, Geneva, Zurich, Munich, Berlin, Amsterdam, and a lot of stuff in between. Where I net out…I don’t know, but life is about to get wild, crazy, uncertain…perfect.

I moved to Columbia in 2004 to attend the University of Missouri. When I graduated in 2009, I moved back home. I then returned to Columbia in 2010 to get my Masters degree and subsequently moved to Boulder, Colorado in 2012 when I graduated again. Lastly, I moved back here in 2013 for a job and for the VERY last time I will be moving away from this place in April. Columbia has been good to me, don’t get me wrong, but it was home for college – it’s not home forever.

Last fall, I made a decision: April 2014 would be the time I packed in and headed somewhere. Well, that time is quickly approaching and that somewhere is undetermined.

I really want to go to Germany, but Orlando and Denver are tugging at me too.

There is something deeply intriguing to me about living overseas - specifically Germany. I feel like it is an itch that I must scratch. I know German, but I am not yet fluent and I really want to master a second language. I have a great job lead there too, so that is certainly helpful – but I don’t have it yet.

Colorado is great. There is so much to do, it is beautiful, and has great weather - golf one day, ski the next, but I have lived there before. Do I need something different? Maybe.

Orlando is a crap shoot. I would have no idea what expect. I know the warm weather will be amazing - year round golfing is alright with me. I also know that my parents are retiring there and I have some great job opportunities, so the support network is in place.

But guess what?

Here’s what I know: this Sunday I get to fly to Miami and soak up the sun for a few days, then I get pop up to NYC to see Jimmy Fallon, a few days later I am off to London, Paris, Nice, Genoa, Geneva, and Zurich all for the first time and then returning to three cities I love: Munich, Berlin, and Amsterdam. I will be in Berlin for the longest period of time, because I am interviewing for a job and also determining if it is somewhere I could see myself living. I return to the states May 14th. Will I have a job in Berlin? A visa? Could I even see myself living there? Is there something waiting for me in Orlando? Do I just head back to Colorado?

Or will it be completely different when/if I return?

Answers: I have none.

But that is just fine with me. Life is worth living, just for the life – no roadmap needed .

I will blog, vlog, tweet, and gram along the way. @lukemill or /stoplukeandlisten

See you on the other side!

Those of you that know me well, know that I am not the type of person to just sit on my hands. I like to ‘go’ and I pretty much do at least once or twice a month. In 2013 alone, I had many skiing experiences in Colorado, a white water rafting excursion, multiple trips to Los Angeles, a wild stint in Philadelphia, a sun-soaked “vacation” in Washington DC, a driving experience in Nashville like no other, a strange little week in Greensboro, half a month in Prague, Austria, Germany, and Amsterdam (that included 4 days at Oktoberfest), and that’s not even all of them. Sometimes I find myself wondering if I will ever slow down, but this world is too big to sit at home and rot. 

Recently, I had the chance to attend the Phoenix Open golf tournament. This is an annual golf tournament in the southwestern United States that is known for its extremely raucous, unorthodox (for golf anyway) crowds. What was originally supposed to be tickets to the Super Bowl became an amazing weekend…albeit a few change fees later.

The point of this blog post isn’t so much focused on the weekend itself, but more the feeling that was hidden within. You see, after you graduate college a funny thing starts to happen: people move, you move, communication becomes scarce, and never again are you placed in a situation with such an abundance of friendship. College is now this distant, mythical land once filled with great people, cheap drinks, and, most importantly, little to do. It was stuff, more stuff, roadtrips because you could, sporting events, and sorority soirées. It’s a shame to say, but sometimes college could seem like friend-overload. Then, BOOM…pomp and circumstance blares and those days are gone…and you miss them dearly. But it’s not college that you miss…it's ‘college’.

It’s remarkable how normal it feels to be with old friends. One, two, three, ten years later… With some middle school, most high school, and almost all of my college friends it seems like not a day has passed since I last saw them. You know that is a sign of true friendship: when it just clicks – no matter the space, no matter the time.

The Phoenix Open was an incredible weekend, not because of the experiences but the people. If you have ever seen ‘Rookie of the Year’ you know about the ‘haveto’ and the ‘wanto’. These are spirits that live deep within you, just like the ‘college’. You may leave the physical place known as college, but ‘college’ will always be with you. College wasn’t an experience, it was a feeling. You may go back to your alma mater and never feel ‘college’ again, but it’s not because you don’t have it in you. ‘College’ is a feeling that must be evoked by something. This past weekend, I felt college; not party, not wild, not irresponsible, but college: an overwhelming sense of enjoyment that comes from being surrounded by people your soul craves to be around.

These people, maybe even yourself, have moved all over the world. Some of them may have congregated in one area or another, but never will they all be in the same place at once again. It will take an effort to feel ‘college’ again and you may have to ‘go’ somewhere to feel it, but life is worth living for the feelings. I ‘go’ to feel. It may not always be ‘college’ that I feel, but it’s what I felt this weekend in Phoenix and it felt right.

I read an article a few months back about how each year of your 20s should measure up. Obviously, it is just some silliness someone made up, but it basically stated that 26 is the worst and 27 is the best. I entered 2013 as a 26 year old and on April 7th I turned 27. So far this twenty something prophecy is coming true or maybe I am just letting it seem that way. 2013 started with me feeling sad, scared, and alone in a new city. It took several months for me to feel settled in, but around the time I turned 27 everything was starting to be gre……

Why did I let this garbage post sink in? It’s similar to the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. You see/read something and then start to see it everywhere. You read something and then you try to pigeon hole it into your life…you try to make it work. You say things like “Yeah, 26 was pretty crappy” and “27 is amazing so far.”

You see years are like years, they come and they go. I honestly don’t like the way we measure life. Life would be happier without minutes, hours, days, months, and years. A little thing starts to happen when you start looking at years as years; you start trying to stack them up. How did 2010 compare to 2009? Why was this year so much better then the last? Will next year be as amazing as this one?

What if you start measuring your life in moments instead? Or even better not measuring it at all? 

There is no rewind button on life, by default you can only move forward. Sure you can rectify something, but you can not change it. You will never be 20 again, you will never be an undergraduate college student again, you can’t go back and study abroad, you can’t go out a few more times that last semester, you can’t un-say what you said to Mr. Nelson, you can’t, you can’t, you can’t…

Ahhhhhhh, but you can look forward. You can look ahead not as if there are 360 more days this year, but more like there IS time ahead. Granted this time is finite, so why not do what you can with immediacy?

Want a new job? Get one. Want to travel? Go. Want to find a significant other? Look!

Who cares what 2013 was. Who cares what 2014 will be. You have a life to live, no matter the day, no matter the year. Go forth and be! Just because its January doesn’t mean you suddenly have a chance. You could have lost weight in December, you could have saved more money in September, you could have done or not done something at anytime in your life. Stop letting a year be an excuse! It’s two thousand and Luke or in your case it’s two thousand and _________. Fill in the blank. It’s your time. Make a New ______ resolution. Maybe that one will stick.