Time Flies – Make Every Day Count

Every once in a while something will happen or someone will say something that makes you realize how fast time seems to go by as we get older.  The passing of time creates some distance from those memorable events that seemed to have happened so recently, until you figure out how long ago they actually did happen. 

Last year my niece attended the same college that I went to.  We talked about the school, and what freshman week was like for me. I remember that week as if it were yesterday, because I don't think that I've had so many days of pure, unadulterated fun since then.  As we spoke, it dawned on me that my freshman week was 20 years ago.  I've had more years since that week than I did leading up it, and yet I still can picture everything that went on vividly in my mind.  Can I really be out of college that long?

Some of my best friends are people that I met once I graduated college and started working.  You would think of childhood friends as "old friends", but these friends that I made as an adult also fit into this category as well now.  After all, I've now been friends with them for 16 years (nearly half my life).  How is it possible that I didn't even know these "old friends" until after I graduated college?

These thoughts were triggered by an event that took place yesterday that really hit home, and I thought that I would share it with my new friends in the Active Rain community.

My wife is the youngest of her siblings by 10 years, and as such her brother and sister started having kids a long time before her.  We have been together for a long time, long enough that I've been there for the births of some of the nieces and nephews, and the developmental years of all of them, even though I wasn't technically their uncle for a number of these years. 

My wife's mom comes from a very large family, so it's difficult to get all of the siblings together at one time as they don't all live in one area.  Once a year, they have a family reunion so that everyone can see each other.  This year's reunion was at the same location as the reunion 10 years ago (before my wife and I were married, and when my nieces and nephews were kids running around playing games and having fun).  That reunion didn't seem so long ago, but the family dynamics have certainly changed during the time between the two reunions.

These kids have turned into grown-ups in the blink of an eye.  Instead of running around playing games, they came up with a new way to make the reunion fun, and this is what inspired me to write this blog.  The game of choice at this reunion was "beer pong."  For those of you that don't know what it is, don't feel bad, I didn't either, although I'd heard the term once or twice before.  Please look at the picture for an illustration.  It's a similar concept to "quarters," except for the fact there are actually winners and losers in this game. 

Had they come prepared for this, it would have still been strange for me, but not as strange as seeing them all pile into a car and drive away in search of more beer and ping pong balls in a small town in upstate New York.  All the while, my son was attached to my hip all day because he felt ignored by his older cousins.  It was a very strange feeling to see that my son is quickly growing up, but not fast enough to play his cousin's "reindeer games."  When he was a little younger, they would play with him because it was cute to do so, and he was entertaining in his ways.  He was young enough to not yet know how to feel like an outsider that's not being included.

No one wants to see their child upset, and I am no different, so I made it a point to fill the void that the cousins were inadvertently creating by being his pal and playmate for the day (a rare Saturday not spent showing homes).  It was a great day for me, one of those days that you're just happy to be alive.  The weather was a little cool for the summer, which was a nice break from the stifling heat that has been enveloping us for most of the past few months.  However, I was a little disappointed as I was really looking forward to swimming in the lake, something that I'd done often as a child in camp, but never since. 

My son, having heard me build up swimming in the lake for weeks, insisted that we go in anyway.  He wasn't concerned that it was too cold, and he's just overcome his fear of the water in swimming classes that he's been taking.  His determination got me into the lake, and we had a great time together, although getting out of the lake in the wind wasn't so much fun.  It reminded me of my days of going to camp, which are also further in the rearview mirror than I'd like to think. 

As we sat drying off on the dock that felt like a "roller-coaster" to him, I just soaked everything in, knowing full well that this blog was already on my mind (part of being an Active Rain addict I suppose).  It hit me that our profession keeps us so busy that we tend to forget to stop and smell the roses from time to time, or in my case, stop and jump into a cold lake on a windy day. 

Maybe this blog will help some of you to take a day to really appreciate everything that you've got, or maybe this will just be something that I can post and look back on from time to time as a reminder to cherish each day as the gift that it is.  I'd hate to wake up one day and go to another family reunion years from now and have my son asking to play the latest drinking game that he learned in college only to realize that I spent so much time being busy that we didn't have more days like yesterday where it was all about just being together.

It's easy to aspire to make every day count in real estate whether we do it or not.  It takes much more thought to make every day count when it comes to the things that matter most to you in life.  Take a day and smell the roses, or jump in a cold lake on a windy day, or whatever it is that makes you happy.  I promise that you'll be glad that you did.

Have you had a day like this but haven't expressed it yet in writing?  If so, please feel free to share your experiences here as well.  It might give others food for thought about what it can do for them.

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