Making Memories

We go out of our way to make every day stand out in our memories.

There are so many things happening this summer that will create great memories. I once told a friend that I work hard at making memories. She was curious about what that meant as she could not fathom it. What I explained was that if you don’t create memorable moments, they all simply flow together in one mass of lost time.

Just think, what did you do or eat last week? Did you go to work every day, have breakfast with your loved ones, lunch with clients, and dinner with friends, play with your children or your dog? Did you celebrate an event or passage of time? Did you share a special moment? Or did it just go by without a memory to make it stand out.

Thank back at that year that just passed. Did you find yourself saying, “Where did the time go?” Or did you fly off to some exotic destination on a whim, present your wife with an extravagant gift "just because" and took her to dinner to show it off, take a day off mid-week to stroll the avenues lined with cherry trees, invite friends to go fishing on the perfect day. Did you write it all down so you’d remember. If it was a good memory, would you have to?

My "stepfather-in-law" Uncle Joe, although I never met him, was my hero in this regard. He was a master at creating life’s stories. He would see a stranger walking down the street looking lost in the west of Ireland and invite him home to dinner. My mother-in-law never knew what surprise was in store on any given day. She learned to stretch any dinner to accommodate an extra guest or two or three. Some of them turned out to be extraordinary human beings – like Einstein ’s assistant from Stony Brook – and many became lifelong friends.

He even rescued Errol Flynn off the coast of Jamaica when his yacht was in trouble, and they became good friends. He appeared on a BBC production about ghosts in Ireland , and he took the entire family on caravan adventures around Europe . They still tell the stories long after his passing.

I've been trying to be diligent about making things happen, but I still fall into the trap of comfort and routine. Whenever I do, I think about Uncle Joe and the wonderful life and memories he created for so many around him. That's when I call a friend, jump on the boat and go.

So take the opportunity to “Just do it” today. Don’t let the day fall into obscurity with all those others. Make it stand out. Invite a friend who doesn’t have a boat to go out on the water with you. Grab a fishing pole and a kid and stand on the dock talking about life and fishing and everything else. Make a story happen.

See you on the water! And don't forget to take part in whatever makes it stand out for you.