Every time I watch the finale of The Office (2013), actor Ed Helms characters line about the good old days, strikes such a chord in me.
“I wish there was a way to know that you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.” – Andy Bernard (The Office).
For most of us those trips down memory lane are the sanity we are holding onto, as we live through the insanity of our present times.
I had a chance to talk with my daughter and granddaughters on Saturday as they were headed out to the backyard pool. Announcing as they ran out the back door that they were going to dive in, sit on floating ducks drinking cool drinks in the hot weather. There was a twinge of longing in me for the good ole days. A longing for strawberry lemonade, watermelon, backyard barbecues, music, laughter and the neighborhood block party.
The girls were twirling around dressed in bathing suits and flip flops. Excitement was in the air. There was no worry about the coronavirus, protest or any of the latest ‘isms’.
While all of these things are important and need our full and undivided attention, I’m learning from my granddaughters that the good ole days, are right now.
Yes, the issues that occupy my mind and heart the most these days, are those things that will ensure that my girls will all have a society, a nation, a planet, that they can live in and on, free of what binds us.
While I fight for these causes, I’m also trying to remind myself that these are the good ole day’s, and I must be fully present during these times.
Years from now when we’ve moved on to other issues or the new cause célèbre, what will be the good ole day memories we recall? I don’t know about you, but I truly don’t want them all to be about the causes I took up.
I want them to include family, friends and the memories made from a life filled with laughter and love.
The good old days are made through the stories we tell. So today, I made a pitcher of strawberry lemonade, masked up, invited my neighbor over, sat on the patio, turned up the speakers on my sound system (I didn’t disturb the neighbors) and started making new memories to be able to share the stories with my granddaughters when they are older.
When that question is asked years from now, “What did you do when the virus had everyone shut in?” My answers will be that I continued the good fight for social justice, climate change, equity, diversity and inclusion, and I listened to great music, drank strawberry lemonade, ate amazing barbecue, and hung out with good friends
Today I discovered, these are the good ole days. “And That’s A Brilliant Glimpse of Insight!”