Two in a row, Why It Matters
My sanitation driver(s) are very thoughtful. Routinely I come home on trash day and find one or both trash cans in the middle of the driveway. I completely understand why taking an extra 5-10 seconds to put the cans down with the robotic arm on the truck on the side of the driveway would be impractical for them. It’s much faster and fun to start moving as the can is being returned to block the home owners driveway. I feel badly I forgot to give them a Christmas card.
Last night after work I had my second evening in a row where I did absolutely nothing related to prepping the house for sale. Instead I headed down to East Naples to play some pickleball, playing both singles and doubles. My singles game has been pretty solid recently, doubles can be hit and miss. I have always preferred singles as I like the challenge of 1 on 1 competition. However doubles are significantly less punishing physically which is something I should give more weight to as I get older. With doubles I feel myself getting more frustrated when I make a mistake because I also feel like I am letting down my partner. Even though it was on the chilly side I lost my sweatshirt after the first game. I didn’t get home until around 10 but felt my time was well spent.
Yesterday I talked to my dad, it was his 76th birthday. During the call he gave me some sad news, his longtime friend Jay of more than 50 years had recently passed away. Growing up we used to visit Jay and Jerry with my parents although I think the last time I saw Jay was at my sister Meg’s wedding many years ago. The two things that I remembered about Jay growing up was his Austin Healy Bugeye Sprite and his amazing model train set up. I could tell my dad was affected heavily by the loss and understandably so.
A couple days ago I also saw that the brother of a friend of mine from school recently passed away, he was 56 years old, a scarce year older than I am. I’m getting to the age that this is going to happen more and more frequently but seeing his passing gave me pause.
It made me think about how you never really know how long you are going to be walking this planet and why it is important to make the most of your time that is gifted upon you. That is part of why I have put new found effort into trying to connect with people in meaningful ways instead of surface only platitudes. I feel the risk of putting myself out there is worth the potential reward. I want my time left to be memorable, with more laughs, love and adventures than I know what to do with.