Photo credit: Robin Malmanger

By Dave Markwell

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

-T. S. Eliot

Each day, I walk through my hometown and each day I see it differently. The light is different or the wind is different or just feels different. The familiar becomes new depending on my angle. A subtle shift of step changes many things. Old memories look different and feel different, too. Such is the power of perspective.

The world doesn’t change much, but we do. I know my city like the back of my hand. I know the bumps in the roads and the cars that park in the same spots. I know its smells and its vistas. I know its people and its heart. They are mine. And, they change as I do.

The same places are different, because I’m different. The ghosts of who I was saw things differently. And, some ghosts remain in my memories of places and good days and bad days. But, they’re ghosts. I’m here. We’re all here. Right now. That’s the only place we can be, no matter how hard we try to be elsewhere. And, here is a nice place.

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

-Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

We travel in many ways. Sometimes on a plane and sometimes just in the daily living of life. We become different people. The angle of who we are is different. We look the same, but we’re not. And, this is good and necessary and right.

New angles make for some marvelous views. The old becoming new keeps the familiar fresh and alive with the grand dreams of children. We can leave and stay at the same time. The world doesn’t change. We change, and then change the world.

Dave Markwell is a life-long Des Moines liver and lover. Former owner of Waterland CrossFit and the Waterland Arcade, Dave is now using his unique story-telling voice to help small businesses tell a better story, and his love for people to help folks live bigger and better lives.

For more info. check out his website: wordsbydave.net.

He can be contacted at: [email protected].