AND THEN I REALIZED...

 

AND THEN I REALIZED, I WAS-----

 

Sitting in an easy chair with a hot cup of coffee watching my three great granddaughters open their Christmas presents, I began to realize…I was happy and having fun.

When was the last time you had fun? At some point in our lives our friends came to our doors to play for the last time, and we didn’t even think about it. What happened? When did we stop playing and having fun?

I know, we all got caught in that thing called life. Making a living, nose to the grindstone, shoulder to the wheel, eyes on the prize, all that other nonsense. And along the way, we got so consumed with ourselves we forgot to just stop and smell the roses. My dad used to tell me…’Don’t send me roses I can’t smell’. It has taken me a long time to figure out what he meant.

I remember being in Korea (after the war) and the people were so poor. No television, no telephone, no cars, no banks, no department stores but they were happy. They smiled and laughed and talked to each other and I thought to myself….how is this even possible? Don’t they even know what they are missing? I mean we have credit cards and lawn mowers ….I don’t think I ever saw a lawn much less one that needed to be mowed. I went to a Korean wedding once with food that was unbelievable and dishes I never asked what they were before I ate them. Several of them were fantastic until I found out what was in it. The event lasted all weekend and even though most of us couldn’t understand a word of the conversation, we had the time of our lives.

No, somewhere between then and now, which is a long, long time, I forgot to have fun and play. Like most of us, that are waiting until we can retire to enjoy life. Why shouldn’t we be enjoying every day that passes as if it were to be our last one?

Last night we sat down, popped some popcorn and watched a silly Christmas movie. My cheeks hurt from laughing this morning. When is the last time you switched off the doom news channels and watched something that made no sense but made you laugh? I bet it’s been a long time.

When’s last time you drug those old Monopoly games or Clue out of the closet and asked your neighbors over to drink coffee or wine and just play some games, no heavy talk, no television just communication with family or friends.

You were doing that very thing when your neighborhood pals knocked on your door to ask you to ride bikes or play ball with them. You talked, you laughed, you forgot about school or the yard you needed to mow, and you had fun. You were happy.

Don’t quit just because you’re old. Wear funny hats and clothes, no one cares any longer about the things you do when you’re old. They just think you’re going through your second childhood.

And that’s a very good thing, isn’t it?

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year…see you next week Peary Perry