So many people have contacted me through Facebook lately. Its strange to relive some of that; sometimes to be forced to. Tessa wrote me recently. I lived with her for a bit at Ein Gedi…in 1997 I think it was.
Here is what she said:
so i have been thnking a lot lately bout ein gedi etc, it was a long time ago now!! gemm has beautifaul photos of kids, have you children yet?? life in uk, ok, but not spent much of my “adult” life here. where are you now? how do you remember those days? take care tessaxx
My response:
Tessa,
Ha! Feeling a little nostalgic lately?Hmm…”How do I remember those days?”
I guess I don’t really for the most part (except when you send me an email and it makes me think about it). Those years seem disconnected from my current life, like they don’t apply. Its almost like I disappeared for 5 years or so….on another planet.
Every once in a while I’ll see something on TV, and think “I was there once; there is a great restaurant I ate at just around the corner”, but it seems very distant.
The memories are nice, but they are also hard to live with since life will never be as new and exciting as those years were. You are only young and conquer the world once. I’ve come to accept that.
I live in Atlanta, GA. I play tennis. I like to drink fancy beers. I am an HR Consultant. I own a house, and hang out with my friends. I love my mom and my sister; don’t get along so well with my dad. I complain and get sad sometimes, but I’m very fortunate.
That’s it. The story there doesn’t really include “and for 5 years I hit 30+ countries, learned to speak another language, sailed the Mediterranean, saw the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids, Petra, Machu Picchu, trekked the Himalaya, rode camels in the Sahara, blah, blah, blah, etc.” Those things are interesting bar stories and come up sometimes, but it just doesn’t apply to most things I do.
I love those years…in a crazy way. Its something no one can take away and it will always make me a little special. If I had worked those years like my friends, I would have a little more money now; I might be married, but I would never have ice climbed on a glacier in Patagonia.
And yes…Gemma’s kids are cute, and no, I don’t have any kids. I’m not married.
Thanks for the nostalgia,
Elliott
Oh well. I think I’ll go back to my wine and Monday nights on HDNet.
……………………….To understand me, you must understand this.
Tags: Israel, travel
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September 21st, 2008 at 11:52 am
Hi Elliot…Jason checking in again. I can really relate to that post. Although you saw those sites as a civilian and all my travels overseas were in the Air Force, I can really relate to your statement that those make good bar stories but don’t apply to my life right now. During my time in Turkey, Germany, and the UK, I also was able to experience some great adventures on my weekends and vacations that, while GREAT memories, just aren’t relevant now. The people I work with in this little town outside of Charlotte either don’t care, don’t know, or don’t want to grasp that there is so much more out there to live & experience other than their 75 mile radius world view.
Hope things are well with you….I should see Jeff again this afternoon.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:05 am
Elliott
Yes Facebook brings out people from your past…
I would imagine that even though those years are a bit disconnected from your current life that you would never give them up or trade them for something different, even for more money. I don’t have five years of travel to fill up my past, but in a way I think all memories are disconnected. The closest thing I have is college, and even for me now eight years out of college, it seems like another life at another time. I can picture it and see it in my head, but when I think about being there with those people, it comes to me quite disconnected. Do you feel sometimes though that the 5 years you disappeared for have given you a bigger perspective on the total picture of life? When you are at work and you are feeling defeated and have some bullshit deadline looming, does your past help you gain perspective and realize that whether or not you hit that deadline that the world will continue on just as it was, that you could easily be off in some other country climbing a mountain, and does it help you laugh inside when you see how consumed everyone around you is with their lives and their work? Though I guess it doesn’t take traveling to get that perspective, it just takes having a brain and the ability to ask questions… Regardless, I can see it being hard to reconcile the fact that life will never be more exciting than it was, I think that applies to most people just thinking about childhood compared to adulthood. But still as you say you have done and seen things that most haven’t and it truly is something that no one can ever take from you.
September 28th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Russ,
You said:
“Do you feel sometimes though that the 5 years you disappeared for have given you a bigger perspective on the total picture of life? When you are at work and you are feeling defeated and have some bullshit deadline looming, does your past help you gain perspective and realize that whether or not you hit that deadline that the world will continue on just as it was, that you could easily be off in some other country climbing a mountain, and does it help you laugh inside when you see how consumed everyone around you is with their lives and their work?”
The answer is a definite NO. The memories make life harder, not easier. The perspective I gained is a burden, not an advantage.