Emperors And Tides

The process of adjusting back into American life has been interesting. When I came home, I was greeted with a couple of big changes, like my sisters marriage, and the fact that my family moved while I was gone. None of these changes were really bad, and some of them, like my sister's marriage were wonderful.
During my first week home, a good friend of mine gave me a book to read , "The Meditations of Marcus Aruelius" Marcus was a roman emperor and also a stoic philosopher. When we say someone is "stoic" , we usually mean to say that the person we're talking about is brave, determined and doesn't let external circumstances affect the way they feel. This description comes from a philosophy called stoicism. One premise of this philosophy is that nothing can effect a person's internal calm unless the person permits it to. I think that this is true, and for my self, it's a good thing to remember.
One thing I've realized about life in the relatively brief time I've been alive, is that one thing that remains the same about life is it's ever-changing nature.
Kind of like a tide line; always moving,, always bringing new things.