After 17 years of my sister and her husband living in France, we (Me, my wife, my other sister and her husband) have just visited them for the first, and last, time . They have decided to sell up and return to the UK, which means we will not get the chance to go there again and I’m so mad with myself! They have the most beautiful house in a village called St. Bonnet De Bellac and I wish we had visited them years ago, when they’d asked.
It’s not that we didn’t want to visit, but we always had other things to do, and fit in, and were too busy and 17 years have flown by. Now, I regret not making the effort as we just had a wonderful 4 days together, experiencing the local culture as well as their amazing hospitality. We’ve laughed, cried, shared memories, visited local ‘hot spots’, attended some local events and, as you can imagine, ate and drank too much.
We haven’t done that together since we were kids and I think it did us the world of good to properly re-connect with each other, especially after Mum died last year. Sometimes the world can feel a sad place to live in, with all the issues and challenges people have at the moment, but, as you know, there is a lot to be grateful for as well.
It can take a bit of effort to focus on the good stuff when you might be surrounded by doom and gloom, which is why I try to control and manage my exposure to that side of things. I don’t bury my head in the sand, but I do look for opportunities and for the positive possibilities when things are not going so well. Sometimes I put things ‘away’ to try and reduce the potential impact of the pain it could cause but, eventually, it needs to resurface and be dealt with, let go or reframed into another perspective that is more beneficial.
Spending time with a group of similar (but also very different) minded people, my inner circle of family, really helped deal with some more recent things. I feel we all got a lot ‘off our chests’ and have come away feeling lighter for the experience. It has also motivated me to meet up again, when they are back in the UK, on a more regular basis.
You always hear the old adage “Time flies when you are having fun” but actually “time flies” irrelevant of the fun involved, it plods along and before you know it, you are 10 years older, the kids are becoming independent and your joints are beginning to ache😆
Live for the moment, enjoy all experiences (If you can) and learn something new every day.
As you know “Life is not a rehearsal”.