Roots and Wings

One of my favorite one-liners comes from the 2002 movie �Sweet Home Alabama,� which is about an ambitious young designer who flies off to New York City seeking her fame and fortune. When she comes back to her hometown to marry someone else, she finds her true love and happiness right back where she started. He tells her, �You can have roots and wings, Mel.� I think we can all have roots and wings.

In my business, we play what I like to call the �Root Cause Game.� For example, Mr. Jones fell in the bedroom. Why did Mr. Jones fall? Why was he in the bedroom at 10 a.m.? Why did he feel dizzy? Why is he taking that medication that makes him feel dizzy and want to take take a nap in the middle of the morning? In order to get to the root cause of an action, we dissect the �whys� down to the very core.

I see the same process in our society today, just done with more subtlety. The root cause is: we�re trying to constantly find that balance in our lives � responsibility, with a dash of ambition.

About seven years ago, designing fads lent themselves to signs. Hand-painted signs telling us to �Live, Laugh, Love.� Or sticker decal signs saying, �Adventure Awaits.� Or signs with Bible verses on them � signs we can paste around our home to remind us of the most basic root cause of our lives, love and life. My children fail to see why we need signs hanging around the house to tell us to laugh. I love that they aren�t old enough to forget.

And then there are those among us who just seem to fly through life, whether it�s from one philanthropy project to another or from one adventure to another, without ever seeming to look down. In some ways, I envy those people.

As I enter mid-life, I�m determined to raise those wings a little bit higher, try new things and go on new adventures while I�m still young and strong enough to do them without arthritic knees and Mylanta. But sometimes I find that very hard. I�m pretty rooted to the ground. My heart says, �Go! Run! Be Free!� � I�m sure there�s a sign for that somewhere � but my head says, �Life Insurance!� I make excuses instead of plans. I play it safe instead of bold.

But lately I find myself asking, how can I show my children how to get the very best out of life if I don�t try to fly? We tell them to spread their wings, but do we? We save those adventures for when we have more time, more money.

This is the time. Those roots will be there. Happy adventures!