Love the Ones You're With
So the lyrics to this 70's song are not exactly words of wisdom, but the title is! This past Saturday some girlfriends and I drove up to Brussels to spend the afternoon and evening and then drove down to Tongeren the next morning to stroll through a flea market, sample some local food and have a general good time.
Since we didn't decide to make this trip until Thursday night, and didn't get a solid count on who all was going until Friday night, we found ourselves searching for hours, literally hours, for hotel accommodations for 5 ladies. Finding an affordable hotel in Europe for 4 people is often a challenge, for 5 is an uber challenge, and for 5 at the last minute it is down right ridiculous. We could have booked multiple rooms to make things easier, but we were really hoping to find something where everyone could be together. Just shy of midnight we found a fabulous, beautiful, super clean, well located, huge apartment that could accommodate us all, for just €10 more per person than we hoped to pay. Not bad for last minute! Mission accomplished.
After we arrived in our room on Saturday, we looked around and dropped our bags and then did what seems to be the next natural thing to do after arriving at a hotel in a different country - logged in to the hotel's free wifi network. Everyone took a few minutes to check mail, update facebook statuses and see what happened in the FB world during the 4 hour drive to Brussels. After about 5-10 minutes on the devices someone pointed out that we should probably get out the door and experience this place we came for. We had a lazy enjoyable afternoon and evening. We walked into town, ate a lot of food, had some fun shopping and people watching. It was quite a lovely day.
Upon our return to the hotel the personal internet devices came out and conversations laughter that we experienced for the past 12 hours were mostly over. As it turns out, it wasn't really all that important for us to be in the same room. Everyone could have surfed on their own.
We spent Sunday shopping at a flea market in a nearby city and then headed home. As soon as we crossed into the German border everyone with internet service plans on their phones started surfing. The car went silent. Those without internet passed the time sleeping, driving or just thinking. Those with, checked email, read facebook posts and shopped.
The same scenario played out when we went to Vienna a few months back. We purposefully found an apartment where our family and the Mlack family could all be together, but I hate to admit that we didn't do a single thing together each night when we returned from sightseeing. Everyone grabbed their devices and conversations ended and the cards and dice sat on the counter collecting dust.
Instead of spending time with the people who made it a point to be together, everyone was spending time alone connecting with people, news stories, and other websites on line. This happens over and over again in my life. I cannot count the number of times that someone has picked up their phone at a restaurant to check on what is going on elsewhere.
When this happened at our hotel this last weekend one of my friends repeated something that her brother always says to her "love the one you're with!" Instead of focusing on what is happening in the world, focus on being in the moment and really enjoying and loving the people you are with.
It is highly unlikely that the same 5 ladies will find ourselves together again without our spouses and children. One is moving in a few weeks, school is starting soon, another one is working full time and life gets busy. This was a brief moment in time that can't be paused or recaptured. But Facebook, the news, emails - those can all be read later.
I don't know why people think it is OK to ignore the people you are with to be entertained by things on line, but I'm sick of it. I'm going to take a friends' advise and love the ones I'm with and if the ones I'm with are too busy loving those on-line, I need some new ones to be with!
Since we didn't decide to make this trip until Thursday night, and didn't get a solid count on who all was going until Friday night, we found ourselves searching for hours, literally hours, for hotel accommodations for 5 ladies. Finding an affordable hotel in Europe for 4 people is often a challenge, for 5 is an uber challenge, and for 5 at the last minute it is down right ridiculous. We could have booked multiple rooms to make things easier, but we were really hoping to find something where everyone could be together. Just shy of midnight we found a fabulous, beautiful, super clean, well located, huge apartment that could accommodate us all, for just €10 more per person than we hoped to pay. Not bad for last minute! Mission accomplished.
After we arrived in our room on Saturday, we looked around and dropped our bags and then did what seems to be the next natural thing to do after arriving at a hotel in a different country - logged in to the hotel's free wifi network. Everyone took a few minutes to check mail, update facebook statuses and see what happened in the FB world during the 4 hour drive to Brussels. After about 5-10 minutes on the devices someone pointed out that we should probably get out the door and experience this place we came for. We had a lazy enjoyable afternoon and evening. We walked into town, ate a lot of food, had some fun shopping and people watching. It was quite a lovely day.
Upon our return to the hotel the personal internet devices came out and conversations laughter that we experienced for the past 12 hours were mostly over. As it turns out, it wasn't really all that important for us to be in the same room. Everyone could have surfed on their own.
We spent Sunday shopping at a flea market in a nearby city and then headed home. As soon as we crossed into the German border everyone with internet service plans on their phones started surfing. The car went silent. Those without internet passed the time sleeping, driving or just thinking. Those with, checked email, read facebook posts and shopped.
The same scenario played out when we went to Vienna a few months back. We purposefully found an apartment where our family and the Mlack family could all be together, but I hate to admit that we didn't do a single thing together each night when we returned from sightseeing. Everyone grabbed their devices and conversations ended and the cards and dice sat on the counter collecting dust.
Instead of spending time with the people who made it a point to be together, everyone was spending time alone connecting with people, news stories, and other websites on line. This happens over and over again in my life. I cannot count the number of times that someone has picked up their phone at a restaurant to check on what is going on elsewhere.
When this happened at our hotel this last weekend one of my friends repeated something that her brother always says to her "love the one you're with!" Instead of focusing on what is happening in the world, focus on being in the moment and really enjoying and loving the people you are with.
It is highly unlikely that the same 5 ladies will find ourselves together again without our spouses and children. One is moving in a few weeks, school is starting soon, another one is working full time and life gets busy. This was a brief moment in time that can't be paused or recaptured. But Facebook, the news, emails - those can all be read later.
I don't know why people think it is OK to ignore the people you are with to be entertained by things on line, but I'm sick of it. I'm going to take a friends' advise and love the ones I'm with and if the ones I'm with are too busy loving those on-line, I need some new ones to be with!
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