Close friends of ours had parents that travelled south in
the winters well into their 80’s. As I recall the stories they did it mostly in
a tent and went to Arizona every year as long as they could. I always admired
that and hope that we can do it that long too.
I think of my Gramma’s and Dad’s stories. When he was a young
boy they moved from a farm in southern Alberta up to homestead between Rocky
Mountain House and Red Deer, Alberta. When they did this they had Hired Men to
do the cattle drive and their motorhome was nothing more than a covered wagon
with wooden wheels, stopping each night along the way.
Several of the cattle died along the way from breaking their
legs in gopher holes. They lived in these covered wagons until just before the
snow came that fall while the men built the new family home. The stories are
just like the cowboy days and campfires of years gone by.
I’m sitting here just south of Myrtle Beach in a state
campground near the ocean in my motorhome – its perfect.
Here we are with all the comforts of home and last night we
panicked!
You might be asking why did you panic?
Well after we got set up (fun times backing this rig into a
camp stall in the dark) we realized that we had no service for our mobile Wi-Fi!
Yes it is true… the times have changed and it almost
embarrasses me to say we panicked over this!
The next thought was; will we have TV reception here if
there is no Wi-Fi?
Sure enough we fired up the TV and whew… we did have plenty
of TV channels to choose from. Thank goodness!
So as I ponder this I can’t help to wonder; if we as Baby
Boomers are this addicted to having the internet at hand, what must our
children feel? What will it be like for them when they are our age? What about
our Grandchildren?
We are so connected in this day & age that now we panic
over not having internet when we are camping! No wonder I don’t read books
anymore. No wonder I don’t even remember how to truly relax!
So with my laptop open this morning I thought I would do the
next best thing to the internet and that’s to write down some of my thoughts
and observations.
We are closing in quickly on finishing our second month on
this trip (25%).
We have covered so many miles I am getting places confused
and mixed up and others I don’t even remember unless Barb reminds me or I stop
to look at the pictures that we have taken.
There are so many good memories though. Memories of New York
City, one of my favorite spots so far. The campground in Wisconsin, so relaxing
and quiet. The first time we actually saw the Atlantic Ocean on this trip and
so on.
They all add up into memories but at this age I fear I am
losing space in the old cranial cavity so as to have to be reminded of some.
I’m thankful for digital cameras!
We can take so many pictures now a-days that we don’t have
to worry about the cost of film or having the pictures developed only to find
out some of them didn’t even turn out the way we had hoped. Delete, delete!
More pictures are added and edited. The memories for me are now stored this
way. I go back and I look at the photo albums on my laptop and there they are, sweet
memories.
So where am I going with all this you ask?
I have no idea! It just struck me as I was sitting here that
technology has become such a big thing in our lives we panic when something
doesn’t work or connect, even when we are camping!
I think of our visit to the town of Mayberry a couple of
days ago. If you have never seen this show please go to that link that I posted
recently and watch a few episodes. Those were fun simple times and we could all
relate.
Neighbors cared for neighbors and their children too.
TV was a fairly new invention and many of us grew up
watching it in black and white. Color wasn’t available in the early years and
wasn’t an affordable option for some families including mine.
Have we forgotten how to really relax?
I can’t remember the last time I read a book but I have two
with me that I have promised myself I will read on this trip. It’s like it has
become work to slow down enough to stop and relax!
As we travel through some of these small towns especially
here in the south I have seen many people sitting on their front porches in
their rocking chairs or on their swings. Family time and relaxing on the front
porch almost seems to be a thing of the past for many of us.
I spent the majority of my life in the rat-race.
Running here and running there. First as a policeman and
then in my racing business, then selling diesel engines and then in my real
estate business. It always came down to “how much can you accomplish” in one day.
If you couldn’t get it done you simply worked longer hours or worked even harder.
When we toured Europe for a few months in 2009/10 they
taught me a lesson too. I’m afraid I have already forgotten what I learned. In
many of those countries they simply shut down their businesses for an hour or a
few every single afternoon. Why did they do this? I think it comes down to
getting one’s priorities in order.
There’s an old saying that we should be “Working to Live”
not “Living to Work.”
Sure I may be retired now and it might seem easy for me to
say all this sitting here in my motorhome but one of the demons I always battle
is “what can I accomplish?”
Since retiring from the RCMP I have always moved on (more
than once) to another business or project to make it work and to make it happen,
with out even stopping to relax and smell the flowers. Call it a bad habit or a
disease of modern man but I think many of us (certainly men) suffer from this.
We just don’t know how to slow down or how to relax and smell those roses!
How many times in your life have you seen people work past
their retirement age? Only to have a heart attack and die shortly thereafter!
Is that fair after they have worked for so long and so hard? Is it because they
stopped working and boom their bodies didn’t know how to react?
I know I am starting to ramble, but these are my thoughts
for today… Sorry!
In today’s rat-race that we all suffer from we need to find
ways to relax.
If we are retiring we need to find hobbies or other
activities that we enjoy to help us relax and pass the time. If we are young or
middle aged still working we have to remember what is important and get back to
the basics – our family time, our down time - Enjoy the day!
It seems to me with what I have read in studies that we have
almost become addicted to the adrenalin or some other “high” that we naturally
receive when we are go-go all the time. We all need (especially me) to break
the addiction and get back to the basics of life to really enjoy it. After all
we really aren’t here all that long. Compare your life expectancy to that of eternity!
So as much as I am sharing this with you I am really sharing
it and telling these things to myself too. You likely view me as sitting here
living the retired life of travel and wondering why I am digging into this
topic.
I am saying that after 2 winters of this and now into our
third, I don’t think I have really found what it is that brings true relaxation
and the associated enjoyment. I ask myself; “have I really stopped to smell the
roses?”
That is going to be my project this winter, re-wiring my
life to really relax!
So… the next time we have no internet connection I am not going
to panic.
I refuse to!
I will sit and count the stars or open and book and read
until my eyelids slam shut. I will force myself to really relax and enjoy life,
the way it was really meant to be!
I hope that you will too. J
UPDATE: October 24, 2013.
I read a book the other day, can you beleive it!
I read it in one day! I enjoyed it so much I couldn’t put it
down!
Or, is it that I just can’t seem to stop when I start
something ha,ha,ha!
