1010837_10151654384013449_1127576817_nI’m not even sure how to start this post. To be honest, my mind was blown for a majority of last week and I’m still processing all that took place. I don’t know that I have ever experienced an entire week of reconnecting the past with the present while looking “back.”

“Sometimes, we get caught up doing everything. We’re not promised tomorrow. Sometimes, you just need to close your eyes and go back…” -Colt Ford

It all started last Monday while I was attending my grandfathers funeral in Ashland, Ohio. Both of my parents grew up in Ashland so we spent a lot of time there growing up. A majority of my extended family on my moms side still lives there so we did a lot of things together when I was younger. Due to time and chance, we have not seen one another in probably 20-30 years. While it’s too bad it took a funeral to get everyone together, it was surreal to be back there again. We spent a few hours catching up on memories of the past and where we all are today.

On Tuesday I boarded a plane and met up with a co-worker that also used to work for my former employer. 5 years ago, we spent a week at our “President’s Club” event for the top performers in the company. Although I had never met him prior to that event, we became fast friends and had a memorable week together in Palm Springs with our wives. Time and chance created distance and separation between us so we lost contact. I spent the entire week with my former-coworker-turned-coworker again catching up and remembering great times.

1002553_10151645720808449_1074698838_nOn Thursday night, I got a message that a former classmate and good friend wanted to meet up while I was in Maryland. We coordinated our schedules and met up late that night for memories and updates on our current lives. Time and chance created distance and a large gap of time apart, but there we were, just like we had never been apart.

On Saturday night, a cancelled double header for my son created an opportunity for me to spontaneously drop in on my high school reunion. The game was called at 7:00pm so it meant I would be 2 1/2 hours late if I left right when they called it. I wavered back and forth and finally decided that “we’re not promised tomorrow…it was time to go back.” How fitting that I walked into the party just as they were taking a moment of silence for those we’ve lost since graduating. For the next 5 hours, I would see faces I haven’t seen in many, many years. We would share laughs, memories and catch up on where we are today. Words can’t describe how special this evening was to me. It was the grand finale in a week of looking back.

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11

1069322_10201101587835688_482944042_nIt seems like I had a window into many years and memories of the past last week. Time and chance happened to us all. Yet for a few brief moments I was able to grasp memories and those I made them with one more time. I can’t express what it meant to walk through those moments. It’s not often in life that we get a chance to go “back.” Yet for one entire week, time and chance happened and I got to do just that.

The greatest takeaway is the reminder that we are given moments in life. Time and chance create opportunities which we have the power to choose or ignore. Either way, life will move forward. Yet each time I step into an opportunity that presents itself, no matter how crazy it may seem, I walk away blessed from the experience. Time will pass. Chances come and go. Grasp them when you can and you’ll cherish them looking back.

×