If one word made so much of a difference for the entire United States I think we should explore it and it’s possibilities more so this Week’s theme is “Change” What does change mean to you?

Depending upon the context, most often I don't mind change.  Don't give it a second thought to change my mind...as long it doesn't concern my core beliefs.  On the political front I would welcome change but...well, that could go either way, "for better or for worse" and it doesn't seem possible one person can effect much change given that we are not a dictatorship.  And in tht respect, such change can be very positive for some, not so much for others so we basically have to go with the flow, like it or not.  "Change I can believe in" generally runs to changes I control...if not me making the change then, certainly, something I can decide to follow wholeheartedly.  However we look at it, though, change is constant and enjoyment of change...for me, anyway...is fickle.   

For me, the earliest momentous change I made in my life was at nineteen when I married a "foreigner" and young enough to believe "whither thou goest, I will go"...so...I moved bag, baggage and an eight month old to his country.  Here.  From being born, raised and used to city life to a farm in the middle of Oklahoma, eight miles from the nearest small town, quarter mile from the nearest neighbour, dropped out of the blue into a household of strangers and a herd of Herefords.  No buses, no city centre, not knowing a single soul (the husband who was the catalyst for this change was serving on board ship off West Africa when I arrived).  In the beginning it was tough.  I found homesickness was a real sickness, I missed my family, my people, my mother-tongue...everything was new, different and could sweep me from excitement to despair at a moment's notice.  But of course, as all know with change...it "changes".  Day to day, month to month, year to year.  For the next thirty-some years I changed countries five times, lived in seven States, learning to quickly adapt to and appreciate each change.  Most who knew...and know...me learned that it was much easier for me to welcome those major changes than it was to get me to change my mind when I was fixed on something!

Other changes in my life came unbidden...when those who had come into my life along the way, left.  Too many permanently, irretrievably.  But change is always forward motion, we adjust, adapt, accept and move on.  So tell me...why in the world I find the smallest, most inconsequential changes so annoying, work so hard to resist them?   Like moving the furniture, giving a room a "new look" ?  Maybe habit!  Shipping furniture all over the globe and having to make do with whatever housing to put it in was a challenge so I'd weight up room sizes, measure available space and set each room to best advantage.  From then on it is "Don't touch it!"  Maybe it's with everything else around me being so fluid, circumstance can change at the drop of a hat and we have no choice but to move on, I prefer to hold onto something static, familiar, comfortable and comforting.  Something I know.

Seems to me that we welcome change if we know or even believe it's positive.  When we feel it to be "unknown" or undetermined, we are more resistant (of course, that STILL doesn't explain the furniture!).  At this stage in my life I can take change or leave it;  if I'm not exactly welcoming of it I'm well-enough equipped to not fear it.  But, at this moment in time, I do have to change...from caftan to street clothes, get out there to find a few items for a new dinner recipe.  I am NOT afraid...I can do this with the expectation we will enjoy a wonderfully, comforting dinner on a rather ugly day.  And if it doesn't work out...change my mind and order in.          

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I was part of a career-military family for over twenty years, raising a daughter in this interesting...sometimes challenging...environment.  She was born into it, which meant her childhood was changing schools, friends, cultures, countries every two years or so.  Some may think this is difficult, hard on a child to accept the making and leaving of friends and most times knowing they will never encounter those friends again.  Very little of such a life 'lives into perpetuity' but, you know, it really is not a bad thing if you have the right attitude...and most of those kids do if we, as parents lead a positive way.  Sometimes, however, it's our children who lead us.  By the time our daughter was five years old she had lived in three countries and just arrived in a fourth where she was about to attend kindergarten.  Aside from the last four years of her education, every school she attended was a DoD school, (an American school on the military post at which we were stationed) but, for the most part, her after-school activities were with our neighbour children...none of them class/school mates...for we chose to live in the communities of our host country.  So I watched this video of Friends Without Borders and reran the 'video' in my mind of my daughter's childhood and friends.  How easy it is for children...how easy it can be for us to learn from them that a smile, laughter, generosity and the willingness of children (perhaps even the necessity?) to have and be friends with one another.

Within only a day or two of our arrival of these countries I watched as two 5 year old children, neither speaking each other's language, approached each other, communicated and played happily for several hours...becoming each other's 'best friend' before that day was over.  It began with an honest, open look;  a smile.  One word spoken in English the other in Italian, two shakes of the head with confused looks then a shrug of the shoulders as they began to play.  Oh, they chattered back and forth, laughed a lot...and I learned.  It wasn't long before each was learning the other's language, arguing, best friends becoming "I don't like her today" but, as children do the fall-out lasted all of ten minutes, maybe an hour at most.  Other local children were soon pulled into the camaraderie, the families became friends and we shared birthday parties, family celebrations, traditional holidays.  We didn't share religious beliefs but we were privileged to be invited...and accept...to participate in each other's holy days observances, traditions and celebrations.

Leaving our friends, their culture and country was always a sad occasion for all of us despite the fact that we adopted and took with us many of their traditions.  We never saw any of them again and certainly never will, now, but we have never forgotten them or the feelings we have for them.  These days I hear a great deal of criticism, sometimes mockery, often patronization of other countries, their way of life, what they "have" or "don't have", and it's just sad because those with the biggest voices in that respect have probably never taken real time to get to know our fellow travellers on our life's journey.  Maybe never watched two 5 year olds, strangers and literally foreign to each other ignore all of that and become instant friends.

We have Doctors Without Borders, Friends Without Borders...wonder what the chances are that someday Nations (Humans) Without Borders might be a reality?  One can hope.