Write Your Days Off

As I get older (and hopefully wiser), I've come to realize that life isn't all about collecting experiences and special events. It's not about how much money I can make. It's not about how many trips around the world I get to go on. It's not about how much I've done. I used to look back in a year and count all my "firsts". My first time on a dragonboat team. My first time falling into False Creek. My first time flying on a plane alone. My first time in Paris. My first (and only) time diving into a tank of sharks. If it's not that, then it's counting my achievements and my accomplishments. 2006 was the year that I diligently ran three times a week and signed myself up for six 10k runs. My next year was suppose to be a half marathon. And if I wasn't doing something or accomplishing something, I felt that life was at a standstill. Wasting time away even. It was unsettling.

But now, I've come to see that although these things are nice, they don't necessarily make up a good and happy life. I could go on thousands of trips and come home feeling enriched with culture and experiences, but I've realize that learning to appreciate and enjoy the "mundane" days in between is just as enriching. It is just as important to write days off.

Today, I had to drop off my car at a bodyshop because someone decided to do a hit and run and leave my front bumper cracked and scratched. These kind of mishaps don't really phase me anymore. Shit happens. On the brighter side of things, at least it wasn't a car travelling at high-speed hitting my car while I was sitting in it. So, a hit and run on my parked car while I was at work is pretty darn lucky. Anyway... the morning was beautiful.  The sun was out. The weather has been absolutely amazing lately.

I dropped my car off more than 40 blocks away. After a mistake on my part and not getting a courtesy car, my mom and I decided to walk home. I could have continued that walk all day with the fresh air blowing against my face. I can't even remember what we were chatting about. All I remember was how content I was. I called my dad to tell him about my mistake on getting a courtesy car so he decided to let us walk for a while before he took his car out to meet us halfway.

The afternoon was spent lazily milling around Richmond Center. I was on a mission to pick up some hand soaps from Bath and Body Works. I spent too long sniffing all the different scents and making a big deal (in my head) about how they don't carry their original scents anymore. I went home feeling ever more lazy and plopped myself infront of the TV for a movie. Prince of Persia. Entertaining but not the greatest. Jake Jyllenhall is way too clean cut for his role. I enjoy watching him all the same though.

After dinner, just as I was about to doze off into a food coma, my alert for a text msg went off on my cell phone and woke me up. Ming somehow managed to take revenge on me for waking him up from his nap earlier in the day. We decided to bum at Superstore, which I think was really Ming's ploy to buy time before going for bbt. (I had said I was too full for bbt). So, after walking up and down almost every aisle and looking for random things to buy... we headed out for bbt. I was still too full. But what the hey...

Somehow, as I keep writing about these ordinary days...

I've learn to appreciate that these kind of days are the best kind of days. So go ahead, and write your days off.