Friends In Far Places

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” ~ Tim Cahill

My family has always liked to travel. Camping trips, driving to Florida, family reunions, cruising, and most recently trips to Roatan Honduras. We just got home from a three week trip to Roatan where my family is building an Eco Lodge called The Runaway Pineapple. We love to travel and love to meet new people wherever we go. But the problem with meeting new people on vacation is that, chances are, you live nowhere near each other once you’re back home again.

So what do you do? The people we meet on vacation are the people who make our vacations amazing, but will we just never see them again? Three years ago we were on the island and met many awesome people. They made our time there unforgettable. A few of them we haven’t heard from since, and a few we still talk to and have even seen since then. This most recent trip is the same story. We met some awesome people, but will we ever see them again?

So if, chances are, we won’t see the people we meet on vacation again, does that mean we should keep them at a distance? Not get too close because we’ll probably never see each other again? These people are the difference between just another trip and an amazing vacation. Don’t treat those vacation friends just as that, people you will only see on vacation. Treat them as friends. If they’re people you think you really want to keep in your life when the vacations over, then don’t be afraid to keep the relationship going! Keep in touch!

I know how hard a long distance friendship can be. I have some good friends who have moved away and we struggle to keep in touch. I also met some really good friends on vacation and, even though it's really hard to stay friends due to the long distance between us, I honestly can say I wouln't be who I am without having met them and I am so glad we've managed to stay friends after the vacation was over.

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” ~ Tim Cahill. Those vacation friends are the reason the vacation was amazing, so why let them disappear when the trip comes to an end? Don’t let those vacation friends slip away!

Do you have a story about someone you met on vacation? I would love to hear it!

 

Thank you Delta's napkin for the inspiration

Year Of Adventure

"To live would be an awfully big adventure" ~ Peter Pan. I know I've brought up this quote before, but seeming as it's kind of my life motto, you should know in advance that it will probably come up in more than one blog post. So today it has come up again. And with good reason.

Today is the first day of 2017. Last year, as some of you know, my new years goal was to write one good thing a day on a card and I kept them in a jar. Some days it was hard, the only good thing I could come up with being sleep. And of course there were also the days so full of good things it took up the whole card. It taught me to find the good in every day and really improved my outlook on life. In fact I enjoyed doing it so much, and enjoyed looking through them all at the end of the year, that I was kind of sad I wouldn't be doing it anymore. The year was over and I needed a new New Years Goal. After thinking about it I've declared this coming year a year of adventure. A year of risks, flying leaps, and LIVING.
I've always been a very cautious person, to a fault sometimes. So, to force myself to take more risks, I've decided to have one adventure a day. One risk a day. One thing I wouldn't normally do. Some might be as simple as trying a new food, some as crazy as moving to another state. "To live would be an awfully big adventure" after all, and I plan on 2017 being a year full of adventure!

What is your New Years Goal? I would love to hear about it! And remember, if you like what you read, please share with your friends, follow me on facebook at Jessica Page, and subscribe to my blog with your email so you never miss a post! Thank you for reading! Happy New Year!

Red Light Green Light

15 traffic lights. I have to go through 15 traffic lights on my way to work. Then of course there’s the same 15 lights on my way home. That’s 30 lights on my commute, and that’s only if I go straight to work and straight home and don’t run any errands. That’s the potential to hit 30 or more red lights in one day. Yea, of course the probability of that actually happening is incredibly slim, but it is still a possibility. You can probably imagine how some days I get incredibly frustrated on my way to or from work. No one enjoys sitting at a red light. But sometimes it's necessary. And not only literally,  but also metaphorically. Literally, what if all we had were green lights? Well I would hope that would be pretty obvious. It would be a mess. The same goes for metaphorically.

Life is like a traffic light. It’s times of waiting and times of moving forward. And life isn't just red lights and green lights; there are yellow lights in there too. Times to be cautious and prepare for what’s coming next. The last few years for me have been a series of yellow lights and red lights. Times of preparing and redirecting. Some lights lasting longer than others. Now I feel I have reached a red light. The red light that will actually turn green. A red light where I am finally ready to do what God intends but now I must wait until He tells me it’s time. For possibly the first time in my life I am welcoming the coming change with open arms. Ready to see what this next chapter holds. Ready to see where this road will take me. I just need to be patient now and wait for that greatly anticipated green light.

Looking back I now see the importance of all the yellow lights, and even the red lights when I started heading in the wrong direction. They were to prepare me for when the light turns green. So, the next time you’re waiting at a red light, remember that God is controlling the traffic light of your life. Sometimes waiting for the light to turn green can be frustrating, but it will, when the time is right. And sometimes you watch as other peoples lights’ turn green but yours is still red. Be patient. Whatever light you’re on right now is for your safety and is in His control. Your light will turn green soon enough.  

 

Necessary

"It isn't necessary" a friend of mine said when I offered to help him with something. But what really is necessary? Is it necessary for me to help a friend when he didn't ask for it? No, I suppose not. Is it necessary for a husband to buy his wife flowers? Perhaps not. I mean. He already knows she loves him, so what's the point of buying flowers right? Or is it necessary to help someone reach the top shelf in the grocery store? Offer a phone to the mail lady with a flat tire? Go into work on a Sunday because they need some extra help? It’s not "necessary" to do any of these things. But what if we only ever did what was absolutely necessary?  

If everyone only did what they deemed to be necessary this world would be a very dreary place. People would only do the absolute minimum to not get fired from their job, no one would help anyone in trouble because it wasn't in their best interest, relationships would fall apart because who wants to be friends with someone who only ever does what they deem to be "necessary"?

Everyone's definition of what is necessary is different. For some it's literally clothes on their back and food in their stomachs. For most teens these days it's the phone in their hand and money in their pocket. For me, well, from my perspective, going above and beyond for a friend, or anyone really, is always necessary. Though you may not call helping someone reach the top shelf, buying your wife flowers, or helping a friend when they don't ask for it "necessary" they should still be necessities. Sometimes the best things in life are the things you don't ask for, the things you don't expect, and the way you feel when you do something nice for someone without them having to ask and without expecting anything in return. There are a lot of things that are "necessary" in life. Being a good spouse, a good friend, a good employee, a good person, should always be one of them.