POV

I've said many times that I feel fortunate to live in New Hampshire and to have the White Mountains, Lakes Region, and the seacoast as my backdrop. Within a few hours drive to some major cities, four hours from New York, and yet I can spend a lazy day on the beach at the height of summer and bundle up for an exhilarating day on the slopes in the middle of winter. We have it all in New England and I continually remind myself that there really isn't any place I would rather live.

That being said, I love to travel. Travel gives me a frame of reference to love New England the way I do but still appreciate other places and people for the differences I experience. Though British, most of my travel has been in the Americas. Ecuador, Chile, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Canada, and many U.S. States. I find myself now in North Carolina in the Outer Banks, a region of coastline along a peninsula that is well known for vacationers throughout the summer months.

All over this area including Nags Head, Duck, Kill Devils Hills, Corolla, Rodanthe, etc. there are mega-homes for rent by the week that can house multiple families for glorious beach vacations. We spend the week embracing the side of us that lounges in our swim suits all day, showering only when we begin to feel gross and 'furry' as my sister would say. Casual dinners with the family, swimming in the pool and catching sand fleas or boogy-boarding at the beach. Of course, my vacation is sleeping in, reading, knitting, swimming and dozing. And it's beyond glorious.

Whether it be vacations or business travel, seeing other parts of the country or world allows us to build up our perspectives on other places, other people, other cultures, other lives.. and from this we can develop a true sense of where we fit into the larger puzzle of this world. I like to think that we learn new things to expand our mind. But perhaps even more importantly, we see and do the same things, but in different ways, thereby expanding upon our knowledge and our frame of reference, making us more learned, better people.

The Sun, Corolla, NC