Recently, and by recently I mean about 20 minutes ago, the thought passed through my mind that my time here could be over in the next 5 minutes, the next 5 years or maybe I'll stick around and see the next 50. It occurred to me how lovely that would be to see and experience that much life. I think about all the things that my grandmother was apart of, the lives that she touched, the moments that she witnessed and the feelings that she felt along the way. We're living longer now than so many generations before us did but we're doing so much less with our time. Ours it seems, is spent on things, and less on people. We fill our lives and our time with more wants and less needs. I wonder, at times, how much better off we would be if we decided to own less and have more. More time with family, more memories with friends, more willingness to give to those that are simply grateful to make it to the next day.
Every life has the ability to be amazing and either through simple existence or with a little added effort, every life has the ability to touch and change someone else's in an extraordinary way. Every soul, no matter how many years it has attached to it will leave behind something worthwhile as long as we focus on one another.
What we do for each other is what truly stands the test of time...we are our legacy.
~KG
Showing posts with label relationships. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relationships. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
K.I.T.
Keep in touch otherwise know as K.I.T. There isn't a yearbook around that doesn't have this scattered throughout its pages. A standard when signing someone's yearbook, the sentiment was most likely genuine but the follow through was typically non existent. At an age when we had more free time than anything else, we somehow always managed to never keep in touch. Even as we hugged goodbye and wrote our numbers down next to the obligatory "call me over the summer", we knew we weren't going to stay in contact and we really didn't know or have a reason why. As an adult we still have that genuine desire to stay in contact with our family and friends, but now we have reasons for why we don't. The reasons or in most cases excuses are too long to list. Of course work and family are our priorities but what else is there that keeps us from making an effort with those that we care about. The reality of it is, it doesn't take much time to check in with someone every once in awhile. I'm not talking about a one liner on Facebook or a quick IM via email, I'm talking about a real conversation in person or at the very least on the phone, and yes texting counts (I'm not a phone person). I used to be one of those "I've been busy" "I'll find time later" people. Lately though I'm making a conscious effort to reach out to those that I've lost touch with as well as those that I haven't. I've realized that I was so "busy" that I was missing out on one of the greatest things in my life, my friendships. Without our friends and family, both of which can be completely interchangeable, what's the point of everything else. The stresses of life are much easier to bear when you have a good support system, but you can't have that if you don't make an effort to build and maintain one.
They say that life is short and you have to cherish those around you while you have them, but I think life is quite long we just don't use the time that we're given appropriately. Jobs come and go, bills will sit until their paid but people are only here for a certain period of time and we have no idea how long that will actually be. I don't know about you but I'd rather regret the late fee on a bill than a missed opportunity to spend time with or reach out to someone that I care about.
Make a conscious effort to keep in touch with the people in your life. Whether it be a note in the mail, a text or a lunch date that is way overdue, just take a moment to do something to let them know that you're thinking of them. They might not return the favor but at least you made the effort. Who knows you might end up with a better friendship than you had before, and if nothing else the "I wonder how they're doing" will have been answered.
They say that life is short and you have to cherish those around you while you have them, but I think life is quite long we just don't use the time that we're given appropriately. Jobs come and go, bills will sit until their paid but people are only here for a certain period of time and we have no idea how long that will actually be. I don't know about you but I'd rather regret the late fee on a bill than a missed opportunity to spend time with or reach out to someone that I care about.
Make a conscious effort to keep in touch with the people in your life. Whether it be a note in the mail, a text or a lunch date that is way overdue, just take a moment to do something to let them know that you're thinking of them. They might not return the favor but at least you made the effort. Who knows you might end up with a better friendship than you had before, and if nothing else the "I wonder how they're doing" will have been answered.
“Short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waste of time” ~ Victor Hugo | |
XO
~KG |
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Table for 1?
Growing up I had a clear picture of my future. My milestones were marked by nothing more than age with the most important, marriage, being hit by age 25. Now I was engaged at 21 so I was well on my way to hitting my mark, needless to say that didn't work out but I didn't lose hope. Of course this changed when I hit 25 and I realized that I was far from where I thought I would be in regards to life AND relationship status. When my 25th rolled around, I had been dating my then boyfriend for all of a month and half. Leading up to the birthday I was fine but on the day itself, I was a wreck. A wreck that my new boyfriend had to see, tears and all. He being only six months younger, was in the same boat but unlike me, he didn't think his was sinking. As we sat at Olive Garden that night I made a valiant attempt to enjoy the nice dinner and evening that he had so sweetly planned but in the back of my mind and in a bit of our conversation my disappointment and fear was there, rearing it's ugly head and it had no intention of leaving. He very sweetly tried to reassure me that 25 wasn't old and that everything was going to work out the way that it was supposed to but I wasn't hearing it. Happy birthday to me! My birthday passed and surprisingly he didn't run for the hills. Instead, he did the complete opposite and we ended up staying together quite awhile. Of course being together for as long as we were there was the inevitable talk of marriage but despite my birthday induced emotional breakdown not once in our relationship did I feel the need to run to the altar, not because I didn't want to marry him, but because I didn't feel the need to rush it. This ended up being a great decision since we eventually grew apart and finally split two and half years later. After that it was single fun time. I wasn't tied down anymore and I didn't want to be, at least not for awhile. I had started a new job earlier that year and my focus was no longer on him and us but on me and my life. I'd had what you might call a change of heart, no more like I had found the brake pedal and was slowing my roll to the altar.
Through the years since then I've been to and been apart of many bridal showers, weddings, baby showers and kids birthdays. I've never been one to get upset or be all woe is me when a friend announces their engagement, and when I get an invitation in the mail for baby shower or child's birthday, I'm not throwing a pity party before heading to their party. I will admit there's been a few instances, more so in my 20's, that I asked myself when was it going to be me but for the most part I've had a genuine feeling of happiness and excitement for them and their joyous occasions.
Now being 32 and for the most part single since my 25th birthday boyfriend and I broke up almost 5 years ago, I'm even less in the I need to get married mindset. I am perfectly fine alone. I have a good job, a nice home and the best friends and family a person could ask for. This is not to say that I don't want a boyfriend, because I do, I have the online dating accounts to prove it, but I'm not in a rush to settle down with someone that I'd simply be settling for. I recently read in Cosmo, that marriage has never happened this late or been this infrequent in the history of the country. The article also said that women are more inclined to wait to get married after they get the rest of their life in order. This tells me that I am not alone in my unmarried status or in my reasoning for being so. I realize that most people are already married off or are on their way, I have the memories, photos and invitations to prove it, but there are still people like me that haven't made their way to that place yet. The statement to each his own comes to mind when thinking about or discussing this topic. To each his own, well his or her own.
What it comes down to it being single isn't a bad thing. Whether you're young and dumb at 21, simply misguided at 25 or finding your own way at 32, there is no right time to settle down. Find yourself before you worry about finding someone else and remember that it's not about the when, it's about the who.
"We don’t need to rush things, if something’s bound to happen, it will happen…in the RIGHT time with the RIGHT person and with the BEST REASON"~unknown
~KG
Through the years since then I've been to and been apart of many bridal showers, weddings, baby showers and kids birthdays. I've never been one to get upset or be all woe is me when a friend announces their engagement, and when I get an invitation in the mail for baby shower or child's birthday, I'm not throwing a pity party before heading to their party. I will admit there's been a few instances, more so in my 20's, that I asked myself when was it going to be me but for the most part I've had a genuine feeling of happiness and excitement for them and their joyous occasions.
Now being 32 and for the most part single since my 25th birthday boyfriend and I broke up almost 5 years ago, I'm even less in the I need to get married mindset. I am perfectly fine alone. I have a good job, a nice home and the best friends and family a person could ask for. This is not to say that I don't want a boyfriend, because I do, I have the online dating accounts to prove it, but I'm not in a rush to settle down with someone that I'd simply be settling for. I recently read in Cosmo, that marriage has never happened this late or been this infrequent in the history of the country. The article also said that women are more inclined to wait to get married after they get the rest of their life in order. This tells me that I am not alone in my unmarried status or in my reasoning for being so. I realize that most people are already married off or are on their way, I have the memories, photos and invitations to prove it, but there are still people like me that haven't made their way to that place yet. The statement to each his own comes to mind when thinking about or discussing this topic. To each his own, well his or her own.
What it comes down to it being single isn't a bad thing. Whether you're young and dumb at 21, simply misguided at 25 or finding your own way at 32, there is no right time to settle down. Find yourself before you worry about finding someone else and remember that it's not about the when, it's about the who.
"We don’t need to rush things, if something’s bound to happen, it will happen…in the RIGHT time with the RIGHT person and with the BEST REASON"~unknown
~KG
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