The tapestry of a happy life
12/22/05
I splashed my way through a puddle of water that was gathering in the light rain falling here at the airport. My luggage came out dry enough, and the rain was hardly enough to dampen my spirits. I pulled my new carryon into the covered station to wait for the next shuttle to arrive. The water in the station was an inch deep, but I hardly noticed and quickly became engaged in a friendly conversation with an elderly couple next to me. They were on their way to San Diego to spend time with their son’s family for Christmas. It was evident from the sheer amount of luggage they were packing that someone was going to have a happy holiday! We chatted about their recent visit to Seattle, my upcoming trip there, the climate in Texas, and a various other light topics. I enjoyed it, assisted them with their luggage, and when we stepped off the shuttle, bid them a cheery farewell and Merry Christmas. Afterward, as I thought about it, I realized that brief encounters like these are the apparently random wildflowers in the green fields of life. They provide hints – dashes, if you will – of meaning, importance, and beauty to that which often becomes monotonous.
A half hour later, I sit staring through finger-print smudged glass into the heavy gray fog that blankets the airport. My cell phone is my left hand, my Apple iPod in my right. As I type on my laptop, I drain the last remaining bits of cream from a peppermint mocha Frappuccino. And I wonder, is this fun? Technology has connected me to clients from an airport lounge; given me Tolstoy’s massive War & Peace via audio book in a slim iPod about the size and weight of a car key; and allowed me to access everything from client files to libraries of music, photos, and movies - not to mention every e-mail I’ve sent or received in the past couple of years (well, not every one, there were few that got deleted along the way – including a few I rather wish hadn’t, but I digress). Human creativity and ingenuity is truly an amazing thing. But honestly, given the choice, I’d rather be sitting in the wet shuttle station with a couple friendly old folks on their way to San Diego. They’re the threads of life – the colored strands that run through the blank tapestry of a life being woven. At its best, technology (and, yes, I still love technology), merely assists us in connecting those colorful strands, keeping in touch, recording our memories, and recalling the tapestry of life.
It’s relationships that count and no achievement or ambition of man will ever change that.
Thank you for your friendship and readership. I'm a little late in posting this to wish you a Merry Christmas, but I do wish you a safe New Year's and a blessed 2006. To those of you I work with, it is a joy. To those of you I serve with, it is an honor. To the rest of you, my friends and family, you are blessings, and I cherish you all.
I splashed my way through a puddle of water that was gathering in the light rain falling here at the airport. My luggage came out dry enough, and the rain was hardly enough to dampen my spirits. I pulled my new carryon into the covered station to wait for the next shuttle to arrive. The water in the station was an inch deep, but I hardly noticed and quickly became engaged in a friendly conversation with an elderly couple next to me. They were on their way to San Diego to spend time with their son’s family for Christmas. It was evident from the sheer amount of luggage they were packing that someone was going to have a happy holiday! We chatted about their recent visit to Seattle, my upcoming trip there, the climate in Texas, and a various other light topics. I enjoyed it, assisted them with their luggage, and when we stepped off the shuttle, bid them a cheery farewell and Merry Christmas. Afterward, as I thought about it, I realized that brief encounters like these are the apparently random wildflowers in the green fields of life. They provide hints – dashes, if you will – of meaning, importance, and beauty to that which often becomes monotonous.
A half hour later, I sit staring through finger-print smudged glass into the heavy gray fog that blankets the airport. My cell phone is my left hand, my Apple iPod in my right. As I type on my laptop, I drain the last remaining bits of cream from a peppermint mocha Frappuccino. And I wonder, is this fun? Technology has connected me to clients from an airport lounge; given me Tolstoy’s massive War & Peace via audio book in a slim iPod about the size and weight of a car key; and allowed me to access everything from client files to libraries of music, photos, and movies - not to mention every e-mail I’ve sent or received in the past couple of years (well, not every one, there were few that got deleted along the way – including a few I rather wish hadn’t, but I digress). Human creativity and ingenuity is truly an amazing thing. But honestly, given the choice, I’d rather be sitting in the wet shuttle station with a couple friendly old folks on their way to San Diego. They’re the threads of life – the colored strands that run through the blank tapestry of a life being woven. At its best, technology (and, yes, I still love technology), merely assists us in connecting those colorful strands, keeping in touch, recording our memories, and recalling the tapestry of life.
It’s relationships that count and no achievement or ambition of man will ever change that.
Thank you for your friendship and readership. I'm a little late in posting this to wish you a Merry Christmas, but I do wish you a safe New Year's and a blessed 2006. To those of you I work with, it is a joy. To those of you I serve with, it is an honor. To the rest of you, my friends and family, you are blessings, and I cherish you all.
posted by jph | 9:55 AM
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