Older, Wiser, More Philosophical

My wife and I returned yesterday afternoon from a trip up north, to Hessel in the Upper Peninsula of the glorious State of Michigan. We were invited by a couple who are great friends, and although it came together suddenly it was a wonderful time. Especially as I rarely care to do things on short notice (my entire family will testify that I am not, by nature, one to do things on the spur of the moment) it was a good and relaxing weekend.

You know that it's a good time when the four of us were sitting in a bar in the wee hours of Monday morning, our drinks long consumed, as no one wanted to leave. No one cared to make that first move to admit that it was time, the weekend was over, our real lives beckoned back at home and work. We probably sat there for over an hour before finally giving up the ghost. I think the bartender was the only one truly happy at that moment; she closed the instant we left. But it was only 12:45. She still got a break.

In times gone by I would have been genuinely sad this morning. In all honesty I am, to a point, but not like I used to be. I find myself wistful but not truly sad. At one time in my life I would pine for a return to yesterday, do anything I could to squeeze another moment out of the weekend or vacation or whatever I had been on. Yet nowadays I find it easier to let go.

Perhaps it is because we begin to realize that each good time we have is a gift itself, and there's no point but to embrace it while it's there and remember it fondly when it's gone. Take it for what it is, be thankful, and move on. Then, too, it isn't like it will not or cannot happen again. As a child I regretted vacation ending because it would be a whole year before we could do it again. Now the years move so quickly that it will be July 10th next year before I know it anyway and we will see our friends again. This realization comes before the knowledge that we may actually have other weekends like the last if our schedules allow, and the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise. Even should we never have that chance again, we need to accept that sometimes that's just how it goes, and again be grateful for what we had.

We need to remember that our happy times here on earth are glimpses of Heaven, tastes of what the true Reality beyond this one holds. If the small doses here are so very good, then we can hardly imagine what life will be like when every day is a vacation and every dinner with friends eternal. Perhaps, in the end, we are given these respites as reminders that so much more waits for us in the long run.

Perhaps the real lesson in life is that it goes on. If it seems broken up here, it is only because our view is fractured. On the day of awakening we will see life in full, and be thankful all the more for these occasional peeks into the next.