The Wisdom of Stability.

During my brief travels in South Africa, I had the chance to work with some local design students attempting to merge modernity with proverbs passed from the lips of their fathers. Etch this one forever in your mind:

“The foot is slipperiness. To walk is easy, just go.”

I’m always tempted to justify my vagabond shoes when I hear saying such as this. Viewing life through the pages of a National Geographic seems to no longer be sufficient for me, perhaps for my generation: we feel the overwhelming desire to experience the places that once only existed in books. Our knowledge of the world’s vast cultures has expanded further than any other generation thanks to the internet, habitat destruction and Angelina Jolie's adopting habits. We’ve gained the ability to easily access the remotest places on earth, something that simply did not exist for any other generation.

And while I believe that travel is an inherently “good” thing, it has become our default means of life expectations. We wander until our late thirties or early forties because we view settling down as settling for a lesser life. Kids remaining in the town of their pre-collegiate education are viewed as failures. Why rush into the rest of your life, right?

Recently, I read a book by Durhamite Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove entitled, The Wisdom of Stability, and the content rang (mostly) true. The author posited that perhaps our call to go forth doesn’t necessarily have to lead us to the Louvre or the capitals of the Old World. Perhaps the calling is as simple as go forth to your neighborhood and be a part of it. It was an interesting, thought-provoking read, and in many ways, it confirmed the webs that my mind was spinning.

And so we bought a house in a transitional neighborhood in East Durham. We are now residents in Durham’s Historic Golden Belt Neighborhood, complete with a red Bungalow and a baby on the way. The neighborhood feels like a great place to plat ourselves and let roots work their way deep down. Like most of Durham, Golden Belt is diverse with lots of different cultures, races and economic standings coming together in close quarters.

This blog will highlight the best of Durham: our neighbors, historic homes, renovations to our home, our garden (hopefully), and all the best that East Durham has to offer. I look forward to having my feet roam our new neighborhood and introducing you to the city I love.

Until then…