What's the hurry?

Nothing causes one to reflect back on his or youth quite like a trip home after 3 decades or so. Spending the week back in my hometown has been not only enlightening but sobering as well. Last night my oldest son and I were walking through a driving snow after dinner and he asked me what I liked about my childhood. Not a question we adults dwell upon at my age. So I was forced to think hard about what it was I liked. And the answer was obvious. Everything I hate now.

Looking back I see how everything happened at a normal pace. People talked to you slower and listened longer. When I lived here I had no pressing engagements. No reports to file. No sales projections to fill out. No budgets to adjust. No bosses to please. No employees to please. No customers to please. No pressure to surpass what I did last year or the year before.

What I did have was time. Time to grow up (wasted that) Time to make friends that last a lifetime. Time to learn basic principals to make me a better adult. Time to make a ton of mistakes and still go on to a great life. Time to learn what really matters in this world. Time to figure out that just because people are different doesn't mean they are wrong or stupid.

The way I see it the best part of my childhood was just that. I got to be a child. I was allowed to be nothing more than a kid. And that is the way it should be. In this remote part of the country some of the issues that face kids today were not here. My biggest decision on some days was golf first and then swimming or should I swim first and then play golf. Not exactly formulating a cure for cancer. So the best part of my childhood was all of it. It was a charmed life I led when I was younger. And I couldn't wait to get out of here? What's the hurry?

Hindsight can be a bitch sometimes. And this is one of them. Coming home has made me realize I need to slow down. Smile more and furrow the brow less. Remember how much fun I had as a kid and keep that in my heart. In short I never really need to leave here at all. Maybe my body will have to go back but not my mind. Not my heart. The attitude I have today is the same one I should have next week back in Georgia. Slow down. Smile more. Frown less. Give many more compliments than rebukes. Listen longer and talk less. Just like my childhood.

After all, what's the hurry?

Till next......