The truth of the matter is that while I’m pretty well-traveled internationally, when it comes to the US, I’m an east coast person. I know the Acela Corridor between DC and Boston really well and I occasionally visit our southern cousins via I-95.

My too-brief visit to Denver made me realize how much there really is to be said about the beauty of the rest of this country. S has made it one of her goals to visit all 50 states and some of her stories have really left me wanting to see much more of the US myself. Another friend is from LA and talks of her time spent in Oregon, Nevada, and the Pacific Northwest. And then, today, another friend sent me this:

I take the bar exam near the end of July. Right after the bar exam, I’m thinking I’ll:

  • Fly to Denver and spend some time there.
  • Head to LA and drive up to San Francisco. (While in SF: get tipsy on a trolley.)
  • Go from SF to Portland
  • Portland to Seattle
  • Seattle to Vancouver
  • Get on with real life (that, or never leave)

So, that’s the plan. Hm…“plan”.

I feel like that word has been so overused lately that it sounds dissonant and devoid of meaning. After all, as we transition from the calm Summer to the up-paced Autumn – as we enter into and prepare for a new school year, a new fiscal year, or the inexorable new season, doesn’t that all require planning?

For what else is September but the beginning of Autumn – the harvest season? The word Autumn, itself synonymous with harvest, originally meaning to gather, to sift, and to pluck. To act deliberately.

So in my third, and final, year of law school I find myself a bit awed and, frankly, paralyzed by the magnitude of the decisions ahead of me. I need to determine where I will be a year from now, but more broadly speaking, I need to determine where I will be for the next several years. Will I continue with school and get an LLM or an MBA? Will I put my degree to work? If so, in what field? Will I move out West or stay in the East? Or, dare I say it, do I expand my geographic horizons and consider London and Beijing? So many decisions to make and I feel like so many parts of the machine that is my life are out of my control.

When the word “harvest” was new, we were farmers and subject to raids, the weather, and myriad possibilities to which we had little to no control or say. But we did the best we could and we moved forward, ever forward. Always forward. Which, I think, is the point of it all.

Planning matters, sure, but it’s not everything. (After all, why else did we sacrifice to the gods?) We’ll have our long winters, we’ll have the things that throw us off course, and we’ll have our share of raiders. And our plans will not take us on the paths we think they will – Beijing turns into a small village, or Cambridge turns into a no-name place in Pennsylvania. I think the point of it all is to ask yourself whether you’ve gathered, sifted, and plucked – whether you’ve harvested (and thus articulated) – that which truly matters to get you through the long winters.

Have you found your constant?

As for me, I’ve no idea…but I think that for the first time I’m asking the right question.