We're driving from our home north of Monroe to New Orleans.

From Louisiana to Louisiana.

By way of Mississippi.

Go figure.

Traveling through the Southern states is different than traveling within my native California. Several Toyota Camrys ago--my first, actually--breathed its last with over a quarter of a million miles. Save for a few brief incursions into Nevada, every one of those miles was on California roadways. In contrast, living in Northeastern Louisiana, we've casually driven to Texas to a nephew's soccer tournament, to Arkansas to eat supper, and to Mississippi to shop.  

Although, granted, not in the same day.

Today we'll cross the storied Mississippi River at Vicksburg, turn south toward Natchez, cross the Jackson Highway--once traversed by Andrew Jackson as he led troops from Nashville to New Orleans to fight the British in the Battle of 1812--then south to the Crescent City. Around the corner from our hotel in New Orleans is a tavern built prior to 1772, and owned for a time by pirate Jean Lafitte. Down the road--across Chartres Street from a courtyard home built in 1829 and once owned by my Great Aunt Blanche--is the Ursuline Convent, built between 1748 and 1752. These enduring landmarks--among numerous others from distant eras--are nestled in the shadows of the modern high-rises that line the perimeter of the Quarter.

What's the learning? Ah, again with that pesky question! Well, if you insist on one, consider this. Living in the Deep South--where I can move quickly from one state to another and where I witness the past share space with the present--has restored a healthy perspective toward life and its demands. I find peace in learning that many of the imperatives and deadlines that threaten to wrest control of my life--that tempt me to sacrifice the present to in an effort to forestall the future--are but bluster.

Southern comfort, indeed.

How do "the imperatives and deadlines that threaten to wrest control" of your life--that tempt you "to sacrifice the present to preserve the future"--show up in your life?

Regardless of where you live, is there a "structure" that can restore "a healthy perspective toward life and its demands"?