Live in the Present, Be Patient, but I don’t want to…or do I?

Do you remember when you were a little kid and you just couldn’t wait for Christmas morning to come?

Or when you were weeks away from graduating from high school?

Or days away from moving into your first house?

That’s how I feel about traveling.

I feel I’m on the eve of my adventures, and it makes me smile…and a little impatient.

But as I was in the shower tonight (mind out of the gutter boys), and was totally relaxed, I thought, ‘why are you not enjoying the simple moments?  Why am I rushing so fast towards the future?’

I still have a lot of adventure left to experience here.  I have lots of fun stuff happening at work and I have HAMMER (hazmat training) coming up real soon.  Lots of hiking, camping and ATV’ing still to do, not to mention diving with sharks again!  And I can’t forget going spear fishing with my diving buddies.

I have birthday parties, weddings, babies births, St. Patrick’s Day (aka green beer day), summer jeep trips, concerts, mini vacations, reunions, MY BIRTHDAY MONTH, my son’s birthday, and of course, my son’s high school graduation, moving to his new house and his first day of college!  That’s a lot of stuff that I don’t want to miss.   I want to be here, in the moment, so that I will remember every detail of it.  Reminds me of that Aerosmith song, “I don’t want to miss a thing….”  Try to get that song out of your head now.

Today I rearranged and cleaned my son’s room.  Not because he asked me to, even though I asked permission before setting foot in his ‘wing’ of the house, but because I wanted to.  It may be the last time I’m able to do that for him.  I remember helping him to organize his room as a child all the time.  I wouldn’t say that he was spoiled, but he needed a bigger room for all those toys and clothes he had.  We needed to send a lot of toys to other kids who needed them more.

Side note: Read the third line of the above paragraph again, “it may be the last time I’m able to do that for him.”  That makes me a little sad to think about that.  I know it’s part of the empty nest thing, but damn, they sure grow up fast don’t they.

I also want to be there for the boring, mundane things like listening to the rain fall outside while I lay on the couch by the fireplace with the cats lounging on me, as I watch some movie that I could recite every word of because I’ve watched it so many times.

Or when the sun decides to make it’s appearance, enjoying my own private beer garden on my back patio, laying in the sun and drinking a cold beer, it just sounds so heavenly doesn’t it!

Yes I want to go travel, but I have realized that before I know it, I will be on the road, and I want to make every day count whether it be here, in New York or in Italy, I want to remember it all.  I must remember to live in the moment and be patient.

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.  -Henry David Thoreau