Searching for AWE...

We have lived here in Switzerland (Suisse) for almost 6 months. When we first moved to Colorado from California, we were amazed at all of the things that were so different. Each day we were in awe at some new thing. The skies in Colorado were full of beautiful, puffy clouds most of the time. The skies seemed bluer and the night skies were glorious. The morning's sunrises were the most amazing thing that we had ever experienced, but after a few months, it all became normal and almost common place. We vowed that when we moved to Switzerland, we would try to hold onto that "awe" for as long as we could. We spent the first few days taking pictures in front of al the spectacular quaintness of the area, fountains, homes, fields, cobble-stoned narrow roads, and the like. Surely this things would never be common place to us. Well....

....Last week, we looked at some pictures that a friend had taken while on vacation. Paul and I kept wondering why pictures were taken with certain backgrounds. There was one cute picture by an ancient stone water feature and one near an old stone home. It hit us at the same time. We were looking at the pictures without the eyes of awe! Old stone water features are part of everyday life and stone homes are a dime a dozen and narrow cobblestone streets are bumpy roads that mean we need to put the mirrors in on our car. :(

How did this happen? How can things become so commonplace so quickly? Can we get the awe factor back? We are going to try to appreciate the history that is around us more and find the awe in the quaint stone walls, fountains, architecture and homes. The Holiday Season is coming upon us, so that should help. We'll let you know how it goes.