OREGON TRAILS LEAD TO HOME

Oregon trails? There’s more than one?

If you’re looking for the way back home, any trail will do.

When home is Oregon, they are all Oregon trails.

More important, they are your trails no matter where you live.

Home is the center of the universe when it’s done right.

It was done right if you remember mom and dad and brother and sister in one place living in peace.

Dad wasn’t a bruiser who took it out on the kids?

Mom wasn’t a woman meant for better things than raising a brood of brats?

Brother wasn’t an emotionally neglected mess who couldn’t get out of his own way?

Sister didn’t have daddy problems that she worked out in her dating pool?

But if you made it through such a family and still decided to start your own, keep a few things in mind, like treating your family like the best thing you’ve ever come across.

Do that and every path they take is one of many Oregon trails you blazed for them.

When Oregon Trails Go Wrong

A man up the street was walking his dog. He stopped to talk because we had the same kind of dog.

Then things took a turn.

My dog is happy and it makes me happy just being around her.

Why wouldn’t anyone else with the same dog feel the same way?

While we stood talking I got the impression he was disappointed in how things were turning out for him.

If you’re looking for disappointment, you never have far to look.

I don’t seek it out, but there it was in front of me in mortal form.

This was a man who used to BE SOMEBODY.

He was the sort of man other men and women called for advice, to consult, to listen.

And he had answers for them all, life and death answers.

You have answers for smart people doing important things when you’re the go-to specialist in your medical field. His was blood cancer.

This man was responsible for people living past their expiration date. He still stayed in touch with people who credit him for saving their lives.

This was a one man representing many Oregon trails when he brought his patients safely home.

He’d been THE MAN to so many people, and now he needed help. Every call he got reminded him he’d done good work.

But he had more to give, and no where to give it.

And his dog was unhappy, too.

When Oregon Trails Go Right

If you think you could have done better in life, but feel pretty good about things right now, bask in the glory.

You could have done better if your nose was different, if you had blue eyes and blonde hair, if you were taller?

Probably not, so don’t call cosmetic surgeons, wear colored contacts, dye your hair, or put lifts in your shoes.

You could have done better if you came from money, knew languages, and could write code?

Probably not, so don’t lease that Mercedes, buy Spanish speaking lessons on CDs, and invent a new operating system.

Instead, work with what you’ve got, work things out where you are.

The Grass Is Greener In Another State?

No, the grass is greener in Oregon.

Everyone knows this.

But, Oregon trails are not soft grass paths to amble down.

Like any worthwhile endeavor, it takes a plan to get here, and a plan to stick.

Consider where you live now, where you’ve lived in the past.

Oregon trails might take you there, and they might bring you back.

Where are you now?