Brett Illig
In search of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Here are some moments along the way.
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Back to Reality
There are times when the desire and yearning for beauty is all that you can identify with. That is a real beauty, a beauty that transcends your ego and insecurities into something pure. Something real. It is during these times that the superficial and the projections of reality become tiresome and even can provoke anger. For these times I am so grateful for the beauty found in the mundane. The beauty found in architecture. That is the cracks found in the walls of a beautiful building. The beauty within the plant that blossoms again after almost dying. And the beauty found in those who don’t feel the need to project…
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A Friend to Man
(Image: Bruce Fountain, Falkland, Scotland) The House by the Side of the Road by Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911) There are hermit souls that live withdrawn In the peace of their self-content; There are souls, like stars, that dwell apart, In a fellowless firmament; There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths Where highways never ran;- But let me live by the side of the road And be a friend to man. Let me live in a house by the side of the road, Where the race of men go by- The men who are good and the men who are bad, As good and as bad as I. I…
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Cold as Stone (3 Years Later)
Three years ago, our lives changed. We blindly boarded a plane with a few suitcases and a one-way ticket to live on the other side of the world. It’s hard to fathom that we have now called Switzerland our home for this long. There are days when it seems surreal, and there are days when it is very real. There are days when we feel grateful, and there are days when we feel the grind, and we complain (A lot). This past Sunday, the exact date we left 3 years prior, I sat and tried to come up with something to think about, write about, or at the very least…
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Merry Christmas
The crisp cold air that surrounded the house had no bearing on the excitement and smiles that my two boys had as they paced the hallway at the top of my parent’s stairs. The same hallway that I once paced waiting for my father to give us the go ahead to stumble dangerously down the stairs in haste to attack the presents waiting for us under the tree. The same butterflies in our stomachs. The same unknowing. The same anticipation that gave birth to uncontrollable smiles. It is and was the heart wrenching surprise and expectation of it all. It is Christmas morning. Christmas through the eyes of my two…
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High School Sports Hall of Fame
There is an underlying reality to our lives that is always present but can only be seen clearly through the eyes of time. It is a reality in which no one else can claim because it is our own to grasp. It is the individual story of our lives. For no one has breathed the air meant for us. No one has walked our footsteps. Although there will always be similarities to the experiences of our lives, there will never be complete symmetry. Our lives are exclusively ours. They are ours to learn from. To own. To live. I recently went home for a short but humble visit back to…
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Bonnie Scotland
Over the course of the last two and half years, we have been very fortunate to have traveled a part of the world that we have never seen before. And I think we can all agree that these experiences are not to be taken for granted. Mainly because every time you have an opportunity to experience a new place, a new culture, or a new landscape, it brings you out of your own ego, your own perceptions, your own narrow reality. And for this, we are very grateful. We have been to many different countries and cities over the course of the last few years and each one has left…
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Turning the Big 4-0
They say that when you turn 40 you enter into a new stage of life where you begin to see things more completely, or maybe better put, you begin to see things as they really are rather than what you want them to be. Ideology and theory become less of a focus and the messiness of what is real life becomes more of a comfortable norm. Maybe it is about being content within the “grey” areas of our lives, a place where we seem to be better suited to hold two opposing things together without discounting either. This has certainly been the case for me as I reflect upon the…
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Nice, France
Earlier this month we took the short 50 minute plane ride from Basel, Switzerland to Nice, France. It was in the middle of the “holiday” season here in Europe so I wasn’t completely sure what we were getting ourselves into, especially with this being our first time to the French Riviera. A couple of things come to mind since we have returned. Distance: One of the great aspects of living in Europe, especially Switzerland because of its central location, is the proximity to other countries. Being an American, our worldview as far as distance is concerned can be at times skewed because in some cases we can drive 8 hours…
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Wrestling with Time
Forever Paul Laurence Dunbar, 1872 – 1906 I had not known before Forever was so long a word. The slow stroke of the clock of time I had not heard. ‘Tis hard to learn so late; It seems no sad heart really learns, But hopes and trusts and doubts and fears, And bleeds and burns. The night is not all dark, Nor is the day all it seems, But each may bring me this relief— My dreams and dreams. I had not known before That Never was so sad a word, So wrap me in forgetfulness— I have not heard.
