I just woke up on a row of chairs in the Budapest airport…I’m not sure how long I’d been asleep, but I know it wasn’t long enough. I remember a young European guy offering me a cigarette right as I was falling asleep. I declined. Then before my eyes were even completely open I heard him murmur, ‘Good Morning.’ That’s the thing about traveling alone; perfectly normal people become creepy. But since this is by far the longest time I’ve spent by myself in the past 8 months, I’m probably a little hypersensitive to that kind of stuff.And, since it is indeed the longest time I’ve spent by myself in the past 8 months, I’ve enjoyed the time to think. To let my mind wander. To explore creativity and old ideas. Ones I haven’t visited in a long time. I have time, space and free internet which would seem like the perfect combination for writing a stellar blog, but I seem to be having trouble with that.
We used to play a game with our high schoolers called ‘Bigger and Better.’ It’s a great scavenger hunt type game because it requires NO preparation! We’d give each team a little trinket…maybe a penny or a paper clip. Their job was to trade up and whoever returned with the Biggest and Best item won. They’d spread out all over town and start small. You might trade a paper clip for a clothes pin. A clothes pin for a video tape. A video tape for a roller skate. A roller skate for a suitcase. You get the idea. In one infamous game a few years ago, a group returned pulling a speed boat. However, they were disqualified because the boat was, in fact, only borrowed.
I suffer from the ‘Bigger and Better’ disorder. This is not a new diagnosis. But it seems to be creeping into my blog inspiration. See, something inside of me thinks that every time I write it needs to be better than the time before. So if I finish a blog I’m particularly pleased with, I’m hesitant to write another because it might not live up to the last. On the flip side though, when I post one I’m not happy with, I’m especially anxious to get another one written so the last isn’t the most fresh. It’s a sick little game in which I can really never win. Either I’m happy with the past, but reluctant to move to the future, or excited to move on, but unsatisfied with the past. If that makes sense at all.
And while ‘Bigger and Better’ makes for a fun youth group game, it makes for a pretty poor life philosophy. So maybe once I had a Coca Cola vending machine (true story!). But, let’s face it, how practical is that? It’s far too heavy to carry around and doesn’t fit in my car. I have a lot more use for paper clips.
And who says Bigger is Better anyway?
(Do you remember the guy who traded up to a house? Ok, maybe sometimes bigger is better!)
