Why I Go

The best moments that we spend with friends--those moments that we remember forever--are not those that we have planned, designed, catered, or engineered. Think about it. When did you ever attend a friend's wedding and then remembered it years later as the best time you spent together? Those times are always stilted and unnatural, and we're glad when they're over.

A week or so ago I was going through a kind of nostalgic phase during which I spent a lot of time lamenting that I hadn't fully appreciated the times I'd spent with friends in the past. "If only I'd known that was the last time..." became the key phrase that I repeated in my mind. Well, that's okay, because I learned from it. I learned that those moments are never planned. They just happen and often they happen when we're not in the mood for them and we opt to sit at home instead of enjoying the spontaneity from which happy memories spring.

I learned a valuable lesson through all that. That's why I've spent some days at Ville's house when my lazy Inner Bum told me I'd rather sit at home. I realized, however, that Ville will be home only for six weeks or so and then she'll be back at work and these days will be over. That's why, although I have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn after only an hour or two of sleep, I will go to her house when she needs or wants me. I'm preparing for that day about twenty years from now when, if I didn't go, I'd kick myself for not seizing the moment.

May you seize all those moments that you might pass by if you're not aware of the brevity of Life.