Only in America....

 

I find myself at a point in life where I either fully embrace my surroundings, or quietly step away and never look back. Over the past couple of years I have noticed a shift in relationships and social connections while foster and embracing those I value most.

I’m an emerging Gen X’er, well past mid-career, who’s taken the backroads rather than the main lanes and freeways. The journey has been good, fulfilling, and rich with unexpected beauty. I currently work 1 full-time job that provides an excellent career in higher education and benefits along with 2 part-time gigs that allows me to be creative and innovative with my time and energy.

This weekend I’m blogging from a Home2 Suites by Hilton in a suburb North of Dallas, Texas, on a spontaneous road trip to visit friends one from Latin America and the other from South Africa. Both are well-educated and products of strong systems in their native homelands….add to the mix three energetic upper-elementary boys, two wise and well mannered Schnauzers, and me Chaz and our little pup Crawford also of Schnauzer decent and you have the makings of a perfect weekend gathering.

On a mild November evening, under string lights and an “Alexa-powered” poolside patio, we enjoyed grilled bacon wrapped dates, vegetables, and lean pork skewered, dessert followed French macarons, Amaretto cherry ice cream, and a crisp white wine. Remarkably, there was little talk of American politics, even though the United States had just entered the longest government shutdown in its history.

I’m not pointing fingers just observing how, while the nation grapples with whether to fund SNAP benefits for families barely getting by, we were being embraced in abundance by friends who’ve built a new sense of home far from their own homelands.

My colleague from Zimbabwe often says, “Only in America.”

I remember him once calling me while negotiating for a new Toyota4Runner online. When the dealership advertised it as “fully loaded,” he asked what that meant. After I explained it was American slang for “all the bells and whistles,” he chuckled and said, “Only in America would someone close a deal with the reflection of a fully loaded shotgun.” That still makes me laugh, or Should I when Gun Violence is an issue that combats both sides of the political spectrum.

Moments like these, intersections of childhood, humor, culture, and contradiction are exactly why America is great (not again) simply great. America is a web of overlapping circles cultures, communities, and corners of life that together form something uniquely human. Although at its core the land was taken form Native Americans who all had their own interwoven circles or tribes. Who’s in your inner circle and who is in your tribe?