Let's Get Together Sometime · 4 January 2008
I recently told an old friend that it seems Christmas cards and email are about the only way I keep in touch with anybody these days. It seems that the phrase “Let’s get together sometime,” is a way to say that we love you and would like to see you but we are too busy to schedule a time to have dinner or just hang out with each other. Life seems to have gotten in the way of seeing friends and family. Instead of stopping to smell the roses, we need to stop and see each other.
A couple of old friends recently found my mediocreman.com website and emailed me. It was great to catch up a little and find out what they have been up to since we have last seen each other. I am sure that we will exchange emails every once in a while and maybe even bump into each other from time to time. But getting together is probably not something that will happen in the near future. Even though one of the friends lives pretty close to us, our lives are so full of activities that we do not take time to get together with very many people. I even have a couple cousins who live fairly close and we usually just see them when we bump into each other on occasion. It is a sad state of affairs.
I told my sister that I need to put “call my family more” onto my resolution list again this year. I love my siblings dearly and need to talk to them and my parents more. We do not live very close to each other and staying in contact is tough but calling does not cost us anything but the time it takes for the call. I am forever lamenting the fact that I do not keep in as good of touch as I should so maybe this will be the year that I make calling and getting together more of a priority.
I must admit that life is busy. The kids have activities and we have family activities. There is not much time to do much besides transport everybody from activity to activity and enjoy the activity. When we do have down-time, we like to just relax at home where video games, board games, and reading are the prevalent activities. But being busy is really just an excuse. We can and should make time to see our friends and family more. Even if it is just for a quick visit. But it can not just be whenever we run into each other.
I do not like making empty promises so I do not like to say, “Let’s get together sometime.” I also like to hold myself and other people accountable for the words that they speak. So the next time that somebody tells me that we should get together sometime, I will pull out my planner and ask, “When?” Hopefully, others will do the same. After all, if getting together is really a priority in my life, then I should make time to really get together. I can make time to stop and smell the roses so I am sure that I can make time to stop and see my friends and family. Even if the only time we have is on the third Saturday of the next month between 4 and 5 pm, let’s get together at that time. And if we can not get together then, at least we can keep in touch via email and the phone. Or at the very least, with a Christmas card each year.
© 2008 Michael T. Miyoshi
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Published 10 January 2008 in The RiverCurrentNews
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You said it perfectly! We have made our lives too busy…but we should still take the time to smell the roses. I too have four brothers who live fairly close but may only see them once a year. That really sounds awful. It seems we can always catch up when we do get the chance of seeing each other, whether at the holidays or some other family event. Often times though, we end up seeing friends and family at only the worst of times, funerals, etc. My resolution too this year is to make it a point of seeing friends and family more often as with life in general we never know how much time we have and I’d hate to let life pass me by without the pleasures of seeing and enjoying time with my friends and family.
— Mia Hirata · 7 January 2008, 09:53 ·