You can't MAKE memories

Jason and I recently celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary with a day in Washington D.C. together.  While we were waiting on our bus, we took turns listing off some of our favorite memories from the past 15 years, one at a time.  He would describe a memory; I would smile and nod.  I would recall something; he would smile and nod.  After this had gone on quite awhile and we both had unfading smiles on our faces and fond memories filling our minds, it dawned on me that none of the memories we listed as our favorites occurred on holidays.  Huh.  Interesting.  We didn’t say, “Remember that Christmas when…,” or “I’ll never forget that Thanksgiving when…”  It seemed that our best memories happened when we weren’t planning for them to happen! 

This was a major revelation to me.  It is something that I am still pondering now, a few days later.  You see, I’m “the planner.”  I’m the one who sees a holiday coming on the calendar and is prone to feel more PRESSURE than pleasure.  The pressure of who to spend it with, where to spend it at, how much money to spend, how to make it the most memorable, how to make it meaningful (particularly if it is a faith-centered holiday), how to incorporate tradition and still try new things.  It’s no wonder that my favorite memories don’t seem to happen on holidays!  They happen on days when I’m not feeling pressured to MAKE memories.  When I’m just living life and remembering to appreciate the people I’m with, the places I’m at, and the God who generously provided both.  They happen, not when my mind is focused on the details of executing a plan, but when the overriding agenda is being 100% present in the given moment.

A great example of this is a vacation we took to Disney World when our son was 9.  I planned my hiney off, folks.  As we prepared to leave, I knew I was on the precipice of dangerous territory.  I had spent so much time doing so much research that I was poised to spend our trip being so interested in doing things in “the right order” and in “the most efficient way” that I would frustrate my guys and suck the joy right out of the only family vacation we’d had in years.  Thank God for self awareness!  Somehow, I caught a glimpse of where my pressure-filled, over-planning tendency was heading and I was able to shut it off… that mental compulsion to execute the plan at all costs.  Instead, I told myself I had prepared well and now it was time to hold all of that information in reserve and pull it out when it was needed, but not be enslaved to it or force others to conform to it.  The result – we had a BLAST!  Best. Family. Vacation. Ever.  Most of the fun we had and the most lasting memories we made were completely unexpected, like the people we met while sitting in line for a ride in the Animal Kingdom waiting out a thunder storm and the instant bond we formed with them, spending the rest of the evening together going on the same two rides together as a big group over-and-over-and-over again until the park closed and they actually closed the ride down while we were on it; or the daily afternoon family nap we ended up taking at our hotel during the hottest part of the day (if I had planned that ahead of time, both the guys would have balked and it would have seemed like a drag… but it happened naturally and we all laugh about how hard we crashed each afternoon to this day).

So now we look forward to the next 15 years, and hopefully learn from the best memories of the first 15.  Here’s to holding our plans loosely, and to waking up each day with the realization that we don’t have to MAKE memories happen.  Our God is a good God and He gives good gifts to His children.  We don’t have to cleverly conjure up gifts for ourselves – we just have to unwrap His gifts when He gives them!  He has built joy into the equation of our lives and He is the one who knows how to bring it out at just the right time to create moments that leave a permanent smile in our souls.  No amount of human planning can equal that!

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