Nothing Lasts Forever
There are a million cliches and let’s not forget all the song lyrics!
Over the last few weeks, I have sort of made a list of things that I thought would never change, things I thought I would be doing for the rest of my life.
When we are in the middle of a love relationship, we can think “this will last forever,” and so often it just does not. My first love at age 14 I dreamt of us getting married someday. Often in the middle of relationships I pondered how good things were, how well we got along. How could we possibly start fighting about things, even things that could cause us to end this? There may even come a time when you or I wonder what I even saw in some of the people we dated in our lifetimes.
This is true for so many things. Friendship, jobs, our homes and most any situations we feel like they will last forever.
Moving away from my hometown of Stamford, Connecticut was something that I have never imagined. There was no reason to leave. Until, when I was 8/19 my mother moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, my dad got remarried and let’s just say, that did not go well for my sister and me. After a few years, Stamford was not home anymore and the love relationship that I thought might last forever, just wasn’t. Much to the surprise of my boyfriend, I made the decision to move to Cincinnati, 22 years later I am still here.
When my daughter and I moved from Cincinnati to West Jefferson to live with my husband, a friend (Gaby) introduced me to her friend (Christie) who trained people in her basement. Soon the three of us were training in Christie’s basement a few days a week. Until we weren’t. I used to think “I will be 80 and still working out in Christie’s basement.” Gaby moved away and as Christie took on more and more clients, the timing just fell apart and soon I just stopped going over there. We stayed friendly but our friendship was based on working out together more than anything.
A few years later I started teaching boot camp. I took the classes over from Missy who was becoming too busy to make it work. Several years and several locations later, one day I was done teaching. I loved planning classes, the music and connecting with people. Until, only 2 people showing up some mornings and certain people complaining about the music too often, would one day be enough and I would just quit…..did not see that coming.
When I moved to Ohio, I had a few jobs and then made a career at the company I thought I might “retire” from. I have mentioned the garage door company job(s) before. My career lasted 16 years, I got promoted a few times, got to see so much of the country and learn so much……. then one day in 2009, I was no longer employed there. Again, the friendships in this situation were sustained by the shared employment. Over time we lost touch.
What is the morale of the story here? What have I learned? Guess it just is that many things don’t “last forever.” And that is life.
But we can and should always make the most of every moment and relationship we experience in life.
Please feel free to share the things you thought would last forever.