Recently, I spent two weekends traveling to visit friends and relatives. These three-to-four-hour drives were well worth the effort. Getting to sit and spend time with them was wonderful.
I’ve taken on this new mantra since I retired: ‘Life is short. Do this stuff.’
Sometimes we put things off saying will do it soon and it never happens. Do you want to go see your friends, but you have a commitment that weekend that you don’t want to change? Or do you just want to take the weekend to relax, unwind and not do anything?
Despite the hours spent in the car trying to get my NPR apps to work through the Adirondacks, I have to tell you the weekends that I spent with some of my crazy cousins up north and last weekend visiting my old neighbor/friends from Syracuse was well worth the effort.
No matter who you visit it’s nice to rehash old memories of growing up. It’s funny what some people remember that is so different from what you recall. There are some stories you’ve never heard before and that’s pretty cool. You had nicknames growing up and people wonder how they got started. Your amazed that they didn’t know how they began.
You talk about your parents (now that you’re older and won’t get in trouble). Now that we’re all older and are parents, it’s fun to discuss how crazy they were, how much you got away with or couldn’t get away. It’s the best.
At times, however, you hear things you don’t want to hear, but that’s part of life. My sister and I have come up with a new favorite quote, “Sometimes it’s better not to know the things you don’t know. “
One of the similar things all my old neighbors agreed upon was how small the neighborhood is now. The street is tiny. The houses have small backyards and are completely overgrown. They’re not the same and that’s OK. Nothing stays the same. But you have your memories.
You share stories and laughs. You take pictures and promise to get together again soon. And you truly hope it’ll be soon but who knows. I do know that I’m really glad that I took the time to make these two trips. I’m so grateful to have such good friends and amazing relatives that I get along with so well. Even some of my friends who haven’t seen each other in over twenty years, we fell right back into place just like we saw each other yesterday.
I’ll do my best to throw a couple more trips into my schedule so that next time won’t be so long of a wait to see each other.
Do I have a lot of stuff going on? I certainly do but taking the time to make these trips is something I will never regret.
Life is short. Do the stuff.
This was great. I’ve been trying to reach out to old friends as well.