I love vacation!  More specifically, I love Rhode Island (or what I tell my friends, the Island of Rhode). I love this tiny state, where the winter is frigid and the people are awfully nice. I have been making my way to Rhode Island three or four times a year since I was a baby. Whenever I tell my friends that I am vacationing in Rode Island I get a few surprised looks- what is in Rhode Island? Can you even do anything there? I never have an answer because, for me, there is so much to do. Maybe it’s the plethora of sailboats to spend time on, or my friends. Rhode Island is the one place I can go to live simply and enjoy my surroundings. The weird part is that I can do the same things here, but it is so much better there! When I first arrive in Rhode Island, the first thing I notice is the Narragansett Bay hugging the slither of beach down where the grass hill stops and meets the stone ledge. In the distance I see sailboats docked, bobbing up and down with the waves. It is picturesque and serene. Beauty surrounds me there, but why can’t I find it on the Main Line? We have rolling hills and boathouse row right on the Schuylkill River, and I even have a ‘forest’ in my backyard. Why do I have to look really hard to find this beauty? Why doesn’t it pop up the second I drive up to my door? The answer is simple: I have lived in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, my whole life and everything is the same. Even when snow glistens on pine trees, or rain trickles down my kitchen window, it fails in comparison to the enchantment of a Rhode Island landscape. In some respects, beauty is easier to find if you just open your eyes and stop trying to look for something else or be somewhere else. Maybe the grass is always greener on the other side, but life would be easier if we could accept what surrounds us and take in as much beauty as possible, even if what you see steers away from the typical definition of “gorgeous”. Try to look deeper. Maybe the search for beauty in Rhode Island comes easily because my perception of what is there is different. At home, I find it difficult to find beauty because it reminds me of all the work I need to do, just as a runner feels trepidation before going to track practice. If people could find one positive in everything, even if that positive is just a small detail, everything would seem better. The more we try, the greater the benefits. After arriving back from Rhode Island, I decided to try this. I came back extremely happy; I spent the next two days seeing everything in a different light, and, for the first time, the happiness I found in Rhode Island came home with me. So next time you are searching for something, keep an open mind and try to find one positive aspect because one day, even the ugliest surroundings will not seem so bad.