Next year is my 55th high school reunion. My husband’s too. Special to us? You bet. It’s where we re-met 44 years ago at our 10th reunion and married the following year. Our class has an active website and notifications pop into my e mail account announcing classmates’ birthdays, weddings and career updates. The biggest surprise: death notices. No longer shocking. And no longer caused by freak accidents.
Unfortunately, the pain of mortality is becoming ever-present.
Why start this newsletter in such a doomy/gloomy manner? Simple. If the class comedian, the star athlete, and the shy kid in the third row of algebra class have met their Maker, my days are numbered too. Not clinging to tired patterns. I’m embracing a new narrative. And rather than deploring the inevitable, it’s dramatic re-set time. I’m reveling in the luxury of added time. Of doing something purely for pleasure. Of viewing being active and productive as not being mandatory.
Playdates with valued friends and family – outings or just chilling – are occupying a much higher priority. Polishing my inherited antique furniture and organizing my life‘s possessions Marie Kondo style won’t be crossed off my to-do list anytime soon.
Being someone who tends to do most things to excess, I went from zero playdates to two in a row this past week.
First Outing: lunch of course with one of my besties, Lynne, and then off to The Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida which houses the largest collection of Dali’s work.
I’m not sure about the existential reasoning behind Dali’s very famous painting The Persistence of Memory featuring a “melting clock,” but I know he was inspired by observing Camembert Cheese melting.
Personal significance? Time is fleeting – like feathers released from a pillowcase – flying everywhere – never to be retrieved.
And just as special is the Dali Wish Tree – a Ficus tree in the museum garden, teaming with ribbons that carries the wishes of museum visitors. Part of the Hindu and Scottish cultural tradition, the branches hold fond hopes.
Second Outing: A walk on the beautiful sandy white Gulf Coast beaches with another one of my besties – Francine.
Followed by lunch – of course – and bargain shopping at the local beach boutiques.
What did it cost me?
A slight dip in my checking account
A delay in answering my e-mails
A refrigerator devoid of coffee creamer, eggs and Georgia peaches
Wilted plants on my front porch
What did I gain?
Appreciation for being mobile enough to walk the beaches
Gratitude for valued friends to enjoy
Recognition that I’m in control of my own remote
Thankfulness for some disposable income
And most of all, a heightened recognition that because life is unpredictable and finite, we must invite JOY, ADVENTURE AND CHALLENGES into our lives.
But you knew that, too, right?