The Rush
Last night I was sitting in Traffic. I had timed my departure to arrive home just in time to see the opening ceremonies of the Grey Cup. This was not to be…What was supposed to be a 3 hour trip become a 4 hour exercise in frustration. My just in time planning had been disrupted by fate, but it gave me time to think!
We’d been up north to pay a flying visit to my in-laws. My father in-law, Bob, was just out of hospital after a bad fall off a roof and we’d missed his Birthday due to work commitments. As I sat there inching along towards the only Bridge that crosses the St. Lawrence, I began to reflect on how insanely busy life has become. I saw my Inlaws waving good-bye at the window….One with a walker the other with a cane and I wondered to my self where all the time had gone.
Over supper the night before, we reminisced about the great times they had experienced when Bob was starting out up North in the Logging camps. The intense socialization that came from like minded and aged groups sharing intense common experiences; The Grey cup parties, Christmas parties, summer Bar-b-ques, hunting season, fishing trips and so on…..
This conversation reinforced a feeling that began when, at my mother’s 80th birthday, my brother surprised us with 4.5 hours of old home movies on DVD…What a glorious family time the 60’s was. All the Dad’s worked, The moms were working full-time too! Managing the hoards of Kids that the Baby boom had produced. The whole world was geared towards the family. There were no artificial play groups, we just tumbled out the door and played. There was no danger from strangers….Everyone in the neighborhood looked out for each other… Dog’s roamed free and played with kids…The sports on the local school field shifted with the seasons and we learned about life and our social skills by screwing up and trying again.
But what comes shining through these old misty eight mm movies is the pace of life. Sundays were truly a day of rest. Nobody worked on Sundays. You were lucky to find a corner store and a Gas Station open past 5pm. It was a day that started with Sunday School, included some family fun in the backyard, and always finished with a great meal. Then it was Walt Disney, Ed Sullivan, a bath and Bed.
We were poor by today’s standards: Only One Second hand car… Mom fed us on her house keeping and the family holiday in July to the States took 6 months to save for. And I say save for because…we didn’t have a credit card.. We saved for things before we bought them in the 60’s…..We lived within our meagre means…….
Maybe, being 47 year’s old has triggered some nostalgia gene in my brain? Maybe I’m no different than the old horse and Buggy crowd who lamented the arrival of the automobile, but I don’t think so….
I just feel that we are given one life to live and how rich that life is depends on the depth of experience on e experiences in their lives. Today, all I see when I look around at my acquaintances is a lot of people working longer and longer hours chasing the elusive financial freedom and in the process, missing the best part of their lives.
I envy those who make it a priority to play Friday night darts or get their friends together at the camp on the weekend. I wish more people had friends over to dinner and I wish good conversation was face to face and not on MSN.
So as this year wanes to its end, I desire from the bottom of my heart to begin to experience life to its fullest. As Dickens said in Scrooge “to hold Christmas in my heart 365 days a year and to be the best friend a person could ever have”. Tim McGraw said in a song….”To live like you are dying” because we all are and when that final realization comes that you are at the end of the line….the memories should be rich and fulfilling, not empty and remorseful.
We’d been up north to pay a flying visit to my in-laws. My father in-law, Bob, was just out of hospital after a bad fall off a roof and we’d missed his Birthday due to work commitments. As I sat there inching along towards the only Bridge that crosses the St. Lawrence, I began to reflect on how insanely busy life has become. I saw my Inlaws waving good-bye at the window….One with a walker the other with a cane and I wondered to my self where all the time had gone.
Over supper the night before, we reminisced about the great times they had experienced when Bob was starting out up North in the Logging camps. The intense socialization that came from like minded and aged groups sharing intense common experiences; The Grey cup parties, Christmas parties, summer Bar-b-ques, hunting season, fishing trips and so on…..
This conversation reinforced a feeling that began when, at my mother’s 80th birthday, my brother surprised us with 4.5 hours of old home movies on DVD…What a glorious family time the 60’s was. All the Dad’s worked, The moms were working full-time too! Managing the hoards of Kids that the Baby boom had produced. The whole world was geared towards the family. There were no artificial play groups, we just tumbled out the door and played. There was no danger from strangers….Everyone in the neighborhood looked out for each other… Dog’s roamed free and played with kids…The sports on the local school field shifted with the seasons and we learned about life and our social skills by screwing up and trying again.
But what comes shining through these old misty eight mm movies is the pace of life. Sundays were truly a day of rest. Nobody worked on Sundays. You were lucky to find a corner store and a Gas Station open past 5pm. It was a day that started with Sunday School, included some family fun in the backyard, and always finished with a great meal. Then it was Walt Disney, Ed Sullivan, a bath and Bed.
We were poor by today’s standards: Only One Second hand car… Mom fed us on her house keeping and the family holiday in July to the States took 6 months to save for. And I say save for because…we didn’t have a credit card.. We saved for things before we bought them in the 60’s…..We lived within our meagre means…….
Maybe, being 47 year’s old has triggered some nostalgia gene in my brain? Maybe I’m no different than the old horse and Buggy crowd who lamented the arrival of the automobile, but I don’t think so….
I just feel that we are given one life to live and how rich that life is depends on the depth of experience on e experiences in their lives. Today, all I see when I look around at my acquaintances is a lot of people working longer and longer hours chasing the elusive financial freedom and in the process, missing the best part of their lives.
I envy those who make it a priority to play Friday night darts or get their friends together at the camp on the weekend. I wish more people had friends over to dinner and I wish good conversation was face to face and not on MSN.
So as this year wanes to its end, I desire from the bottom of my heart to begin to experience life to its fullest. As Dickens said in Scrooge “to hold Christmas in my heart 365 days a year and to be the best friend a person could ever have”. Tim McGraw said in a song….”To live like you are dying” because we all are and when that final realization comes that you are at the end of the line….the memories should be rich and fulfilling, not empty and remorseful.
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