Day 78 of Your Year to Wellness; Taking your life for Granted

Pittsburgh; the place I call Oz

Taking a closer look

Stop and SEE the Roses

I’ve got an amazing life I can be in Portland one day and Pittsburgh the next. But when I mention my travel schedule to other folks they often groan and complain about how tired my schedule makes them feel. They talk about airports and flights and cars, strange cities and hotels but I don’t see it that way.

I love what I do and everyplace I go, but today I’m in Pittsburgh and it is by far one of the best kept secrets in this great nation of ours.

Whenever I first arrive at the gates of the city, I ask the driver to countdown to the entrance from the tunnel. I like to close my eyes and then open them once we emerge and I can never get over the view; it’s like I’ve entered the Emerald City of L. Frank Baum’s Oz series.

I’m always as wide eyed as I was the very first time I came here and I can never hold back the “Oh my God” that comes flying out. The drivers always say the same thing; that “Oh my God” is exactly what everyone says when they come through the tunnel.

I’m here for a company most folks have never heard of; Koppers International. Like Pittsburgh, they quietly do their thing having more of a global impact than you can imagine. Their foundation is all American, we see it every day and yet we take no note. If you’ve ever made use of aluminum, steel, ridden over a railroad tie or been in a building then you’ve seen their work. They supply the makings and the fixings’ to the industries and folks that need them—all over the world. They are a part of the foundation of this nation and like Pittsburgh they quietly do their thing.

Whenever I come to Pittsburgh, I think about how much we take for granted. I think of what we don’t see, know or understand simply because we don’t think we need to.

Pittsburgh always makes me look at my own life more appreciatively. I think of the parts and systems within my body that do the work every day to keep me well and moving that I don’t know, understand or even think about.

We wait for something to not work to notice it and then we wonder why me.

Before you stop to smell the roses, you have to notice that they are there.

Today, stop and stare. Pay attention to your body, your life, family and environment. See all of the things that are working around you and for you.

Taking something for granted is an assumption that it has been granted to you and while life truly is a gift, you have to open it to appreciate it.

So close your eyes and go through the tunnel. Open them and see all that you have missed.

Be you, be well, See

Bertice Berry, PhD.

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