May 7, 2017
Day 26
Albuquerque, NM
Miles driven: 3006
Currently Reading: Banjo Tabs. Good lord I need practice.
Currently listening to: I really like you by Carly Rae Jepsen (Go ahead and judge me)
The Grandma Zone.
Sitting in my Grandma’s house in Albuquerque, NM brings back all sorts of nostalgia from growing up. I have been coming to this house for the past 27 years or so and I have so many memories of this place. There’s the old tree out back where we used to spend all afternoon; my grandma would bring us snacks and we would pull them up in a bucket attached to a rope.
Then there’s the old pictures of friends and family from years past. The same bunk beds in the spare room where my siblings and I would fight for the top and the BB guns we would shoot at birds and squirrels and each other 20+ years ago. This is a safe place. It is free from the harsh reality that comes when one grows up and must face the world without the loving care of your grandma. I morph back into a 10-year-old when I am here and could stay here forever.
But there is something unnerving about that kind of complacency. Sure, it would be great to be able to live care-free in my Grandma’s house and not have a worry in the world. But there is something very satisfying that comes from getting out of that “Grandma Zone” and facing the world with everything I’ve got.
Over the past week or so, I have been in what I like to call the “Grandma Zone.” First it was in El Paso with my grandma who lives in an amazing house that straddles the Texas/New Mexico Border. Seriously, half her house is in Texas, while the other half is in New Mexico. We spent the time talking about family, going out to eat and enjoying each day. Same thing in Albuquerque with my other grandma. I have eaten so much delicious food, had great conversations and couldn’t be happier. I am extremely lucky to have a very supportive family, they have always been there for me. The grandma zone is a place where you are home, where nothing bad exists and you can rest.
But, for an adventurer, this can become dangerous ground.
My time writing has diminished because I was napping. My time exploring has stopped because I was organizing my equipment. My time reading has lacked because I was laughing with my family. None of these are bad things, in fact I have had such an amazing time visiting with my family. However, it is important to keep my focus on what I am trying to do on this journey.
So, my metaphor of the grandma zone to real life is this:
How many of us get to a place where we are overly complacent? How many times do we come home from work, tired from the day and have dinner and watch TV until it’s time to go to bed? Repeating this schedule, day after day, creates a niche of routine that becomes very steady and very predictable. There is nothing wrong with that, just like there is nothing wrong with staying at Grandma’s house. However, how much life is out there to grab onto and experience if you but take a step out of the comfort of the metaphorical grandma zone and challenge yourself in new ways?
My 90-year-old grandma does this often. She just got back from a hiking trip in Big Bend and called me a wimp for getting a shack to stay in because it was too hot. I still have so much to learn.