Thoughts on My Life, Past and Present

I am in Portland, OR. now and having a wonderful time with my son and daughter-in-law. Their energy levels are much higher than mine. Maybe it is the twenty year age difference.

I am not used to being around so many young people. In Ajijic, when I go to a restaurant I don't see many expats younger than I am. It is great being one of the youngest in a crowd. Here, I am one of the oldest.

Today I went through things I had left last year; clothing and sentimental objects. Looking through these things is like stepping back in time, remembering who I was last year and the years before that. Life goes on. I get older and those things that I once valued are now stuffed into bags for the Goodwill Store.

It is hard to see the changes on a day to day basis. It is only apparent in larger chunks, like a year,  two years or more.  I look at things that once were part of my identity and I just sigh in amazement that I had thought they were ME.  They are not. I am a constantly changing, shedding things along the way.  What is not shed is my love for my family and friends. No matter how much trouble I may have with them or they have with me, the love survives and adds meaning to our lives.

I want to try to remember this insight the next time I put too much emphasis on my THINGS.  I am realizing that NO thing is as important as my relationships; my family and friends and even casual acquaintances. That is my wealth. Everything radiates out from relationships, not from the material world.

Last night I met up with a couple at the restaurant where my son was playing. The man, Jack, has been reading my blog for quite awhile.  It was strange for me because he knows so much about me while I know practically nothing about him and his wife, Virginia. We had a delicious meal and listened to my son play and talked about what it is like to live in Ajijic. They want to eventually retire there. It was fun for me to learn about their lives and hopes and dreams. Maybe we will meet up again in Ajijic. I hope so.  If you are reading this today, Jack, thank you and Virginia for the meal and the evening. I won't forget our time together.

When I first started this blog I asked my son why I should bother with it. He said, You will make new friends. So? I thought. I have three friends. I don't need any more. But I do. I love meeting people from my blog and learning about them. These relationships lift me up from my mundane world of dealing with taking care of my things.

 I am glad to box up those old dreams and take them off to the Goodwill store. It is time for new dreams and I hope I can keep my focus on what is really important and not get sidetracked with the desire for material things again. Security is in the love shared, not in the things around us.   Poor people often know this better than we do because they have so little as far as material wealth. We can learn much from the way they live.