If you’re anything like me you spend a large portion of your days thinking about ‘next time’. Next weekend I’ll go to that event/play/bar/park I've been putting off, next month I’ll go on that vacation, next pay period I’ll be able to splurge, next winter I’ll take that trip, next year I’ll visit that long lost friend...
I'm sick of saying, "Next time."
Watching Maggie of Mighty Girl visit Greece for her very first time is causing me to have the most vivid flash backs to the amazing summer trip to Europe my family took in 2007. A summer that not only opened my eyes to the world, but a trip where I realized for the first time the importance of truly allowing myself to live for the moment.
My mother and father are not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Summer trips to Europe aren’t the sort of things we did, ever. When we went on vacation, it was to the forest to sleep in a tent, or visit a family member a few hours away. Which was cool, but a tad less glamorous than discovering Europe on the back of a vespa. So when my mother came into some money they sat down and weighed their choices. They could have held onto all of it, put it all in stocks, invested in property, opened a large savings account, but they didn’t. Instead they acted responsibly first, and then threw in a dash of life.
My father had never been to Europe in his almost 60 years on this earth, my mother only as a young woman, and my sister and I never ventured much farther than Canada or Mexico. So in 2007 we boarded that plane a bunch of confused, scared, and wildly excited human beings. By the time we left Europe, after traveling to lands where we didn't speak the language, maneuvering foreign subway systems, and tasting exotic foods, each and every one of us knew that this vacation would alter our perception of the world forever.
While sitting on a white washed wall on Santorini Island, watching one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever witnessed I asked my mother if she regretted ‘wasting’ so much money for one silly vacation.
She turned to me ever so slowly, never taking her eyes of the fading sunlight and said, “I could have held onto each and every penny. I could have paid off more debt, paid off a bigger portion of the house, even helped more with your college, but then what? What would we really have after it was all said and done? If I’ve learned anything from the loss of Grandma it’s that tomorrow this could all be gone. How will a savings account help any of us if we’re all dead? I won’t ever regret this vacation, because right now I would rather give my family memories than a savings account.”
I didn’t visit my best friend in France sophomore year when she studied abroad because I was putting myself through school, I didn’t visit my two closest friends last year in Europe because I found myself suddenly unemployed, and sometimes I throw my hands up and don't push myself hard enough for important life experiences even when I know the sacrifice will be worth it.
We walk a fine line everyday between being responsible, and living life. Although I am the first one to plead for smart spending, the queen of nearly no credit card debt, very skilled in saying ‘NO THANK YOU’, and the master of plowing through life on a meager paycheck, I’m also beginning to think I need to remember that one life changing summer and start saying ‘yes’ more often to living.
I'm sick of saying, "Next time."
Watching Maggie of Mighty Girl visit Greece for her very first time is causing me to have the most vivid flash backs to the amazing summer trip to Europe my family took in 2007. A summer that not only opened my eyes to the world, but a trip where I realized for the first time the importance of truly allowing myself to live for the moment.
My mother and father are not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Summer trips to Europe aren’t the sort of things we did, ever. When we went on vacation, it was to the forest to sleep in a tent, or visit a family member a few hours away. Which was cool, but a tad less glamorous than discovering Europe on the back of a vespa. So when my mother came into some money they sat down and weighed their choices. They could have held onto all of it, put it all in stocks, invested in property, opened a large savings account, but they didn’t. Instead they acted responsibly first, and then threw in a dash of life.
My father had never been to Europe in his almost 60 years on this earth, my mother only as a young woman, and my sister and I never ventured much farther than Canada or Mexico. So in 2007 we boarded that plane a bunch of confused, scared, and wildly excited human beings. By the time we left Europe, after traveling to lands where we didn't speak the language, maneuvering foreign subway systems, and tasting exotic foods, each and every one of us knew that this vacation would alter our perception of the world forever.
While sitting on a white washed wall on Santorini Island, watching one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever witnessed I asked my mother if she regretted ‘wasting’ so much money for one silly vacation.
She turned to me ever so slowly, never taking her eyes of the fading sunlight and said, “I could have held onto each and every penny. I could have paid off more debt, paid off a bigger portion of the house, even helped more with your college, but then what? What would we really have after it was all said and done? If I’ve learned anything from the loss of Grandma it’s that tomorrow this could all be gone. How will a savings account help any of us if we’re all dead? I won’t ever regret this vacation, because right now I would rather give my family memories than a savings account.”
I didn’t visit my best friend in France sophomore year when she studied abroad because I was putting myself through school, I didn’t visit my two closest friends last year in Europe because I found myself suddenly unemployed, and sometimes I throw my hands up and don't push myself hard enough for important life experiences even when I know the sacrifice will be worth it.
We walk a fine line everyday between being responsible, and living life. Although I am the first one to plead for smart spending, the queen of nearly no credit card debt, very skilled in saying ‘NO THANK YOU’, and the master of plowing through life on a meager paycheck, I’m also beginning to think I need to remember that one life changing summer and start saying ‘yes’ more often to living.
Does this mean I'll be jet setting
off to Europe, or Bali, or the Swiss Alps any time soon? Probably not.
But I want to continue to find ways to make life work with me, instead
of against me. If I'm going to spend, I want to try to pick things that will also create memories worth glancing back at.
I guess at the end of the day it's just another little
step towards looking at this life of mine with a tad more positivity.
Great post! Memories over things. Experiences over things. Your mom had it right!
Posted by: Carmie | 09/26/2009 at 11:23 AM
She's a smart woman that mother of mine...
Posted by: Ashley, The Accidental Olympian | 09/26/2009 at 11:37 AM
I won’t ever regret this vacation, because right now I would rather give my family memories than a savings account.
I love this sentiment so much.
(I found it by way of one of your more recent entries. Thank you!)
Posted by: Rachel | 03/04/2010 at 12:24 PM
RACHEL -- I'm glad it touched you as well. That mother of mine, she sure knows her shit.Â
Her words have been tools to live by throughout my life, but this one I have been unable to shake since she so casually dropped them in my lap. Â
Posted by: Ashley, The Accidental Olympian | 03/04/2010 at 12:35 PM