June 24, 2009. Chevy Chase, Md. Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania has the highest number of people living there who also were born there. In other words, citizens of Pennsylvania tend to stay put, and live in their communities their whole life. I watched the children Saturday night at the Blue Grass Festival playing with their friends and cousins, totally at ease in their place. They played on the play ground and they played football, with no one paying attention to them at all. They raced all over the place having a wonderful time, knowing that most people they knew or their parents knew so they felt protected and free. They had such a strong sense of being in their place. In fact, their parents played together when they were children and went to school together, and their grandparents played together when the grandparents were children too. The old families are all there and were represented by the baseball players and the coaches and the grandparents who were cheering and enjoying the food and the music.

This scene is so different from the experience of a military family, who are moved around the world on a regular basis. I have often commented that the upbringing in a military family works very well with our modern world, where change comes often. All the changes in your family leaves a person with the experience of a successful change of place whether or not the change was welcomed. The end result I suppose makes for a very different person, with the Pennsylvania folks feeling comfortable only at home and the military family comfortable no where except in their own home. I am in the military mode, where Ken and I are comfortable anywhere and everywhere. But watching those kids play on Saturday night, with such a strong sense of being in their own place makes me wonder whether that is a good thing or a bad thing for their future. Only time will tell.