It always amazes me how fast time flies – and these days it’s like time is set to warp speed. Seems like just a moment ago I was at the pool relaxing and enjoying the hot sun on my face and the cool water on my tootsies as I glided along in my float on the Lazy River.
But now suddenly it’s Christmas Eve Eve and I haven’t even started
wrapping the presents I’m bringing to the Cordova family Christmas celebration
tomorrow. Eek!
So what am I doing sitting at my computer writing a long-overdue
blog, you ask? Well, I’m a procrastinator from way back, see, and I felt
like writing a blog and didn’t feel like wrapping stuff.
But I’ll get it done. I usually do. Sometimes things don’t
look quite as nice or fancy as I intend them to. We call these things “Pinterest
Fails” – but I rarely post photos of them, so if there are no photos, then there
is no actual proof that I’ve failed. Or so I choose to believe.
Truthfully, I think I don’t want to wrap stuff because
I’m afraid I’ll feel like I don’t have enough. That’s what usually happens when
I wrap Christmas gifts. And I seriously do NOT want to go anywhere near a
retail establishment today. The 23rd of December? You kiddin’ me, pal?!
So what I have for folks will just have to be enough. As they
say, it’s the thought that counts. And “they” are always right. Right?!
As I’ve gotten older, I finally “get” what older people through
the years have meant when they said it’s all about the experiences we have with
our loved ones rather than the things we acquire.
When I was younger, I had so many wants and needs that I didn’t care as much about the experience of, say, the annual family trip to Parkwood Beach. I felt like I needed the new suitcase so I could take the trip.
Yeah, when we were kids, we didn’t even have suitcases. Our
parents put our vacation clothes in paper bags. You believe that?! One bag per
kid, so it was tough being a teenager in the Domian household. Ain’t no way I
could stuff a hairdryer, stack of paperbacks and my numerous outfits with an
appropriate selection of footwear for the two-week trip all in one measly paper
bag.
I have to admit being a little envious of the adorable tiny suitcases with adorable tiny wheels they have for little kids today. Sigh. I was so deprived.
No, not really. I was, after all, able to travel to Parkwood
Beach every year with my family. I didn’t realize that some families never took
annual vacations to the beach.
But I digress.
Because now I cherish the memories of those family trips. And
I miss them.
And I appreciate the time I get to spend with the people in
my life.
Take the last couple of weeks, for example. I’ve had numerous
get-togethers with various friends. I feel happy. And I’ve thoroughly enjoyed
myself at every single gathering!
I’ve laughed. I’ve even shed a tear or two – but then the mood
quickly shifted and we were back to laughing again.
We’ve shared meals, we’ve shared experiences – doing a
little Christmas shopping, getting pedicures, preparing food, cleaning up
afterwards, celebrating a birthday, enjoying a glass of wine, and talking, talking,
talking. SO much talking!
You’d think we’d have run out of things to talk about, but
noooo. (It’s a good thing I’m not talking to the same person every time. Then I
surely would have run out of things to talk about and they would have had to
say, “I KNOW, Jane. You’ve told me that same story five times now!”)
But I believe that these get-togethers have been worth more
than 100 new suitcases. Uh, not that I’d want to go back to schlepping things
around in paper bags, mind you. But the seven-year-old TJ Maxx suitcase I have suits
me just fine.
So it may be too soon to set a New Year’s Resolution, but I’m
going to do it, anyway. I’m going to focus on the experiences with friends and
family next year rather than in acquiring new things. They are just things,
after all, and are so not important in the grand scheme of this life.
Maybe it’s because I’m older now and I know that my life is
not better because I have a big, impressive house and expensive furnishings in
it. I kind of had that already – and I’d much rather have my Vince here with me
in my small(er) flat with less expensive (but oh, so cute to me) furnishings,
than in that big, impressive house.
I miss the house, sure. But I miss my Vince even more. And how much more special would it be to sit on the couch together drinking a morning cup of coffee with him and talking about our upcoming day than walking into a jewelry store and shopping for the most expensive bauble?
Hands down the cup of coffee experience would win over the bauble-shopping
trip.
I’m not sure I could have made that statement a few short
years ago.
I’m also not saying that I’ll never buy anything again.
Because sometimes purchasing a little trinket when I’m on a trip or out with a friend
means that I’ll think of that person whenever I look at that item because those
things are tied up in the memory of my time with the special people in my life.
But I don’t think I need the expensive things anymore.
In the meantime, while I’m staying out of all those retail
establishments, I’m going to figure out what sorts of fun adventures and experiences
I can take with friends and family in the new year.
Even at this advanced age, I’m thinking there are still new
things to learn.
And maybe at this time next year I won’t be worrying that I
don’t have enough gifts for people – but that I have just the right gift. Of
time. Of the importance of family. And of togetherness.
We’ll see. Maybe first I need to take a class on how to stop
procrastinating… But before that, I’d better get to wrapping those
gifts. Tomorrow is gonna be here before I know it.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and all the happiness
your little heart can hold in the upcoming New Year.
If I don’t get to another one before the end of the year, I want to thank you for reading my blogs this year. It means a lot. Sending lots of love from me to you.
