Day 14- Enjoying Places Over Presents

The beginning of the month was my birthday. We had a really fun time going to my favorite burger joint, and then to my daughters house for my favorite lemon cake.  We did the present thing which is good, because if people didn't give me things, I would carry a ratty purse and never wear anything but jeans and a black t-shirt. 

I noticed something in recent years both at my birthday and at Christmas.  When someone asks what I want for a gift, more often than not, I respond with somewhere that I want to go or something that I want to do, rather than something that I want to have.  Not that jewelry isn't always appropriate.  Because it is.  Always.

This is particularly true when my husband asks me what I want.  This year, as it’s been for the last several years, he has planned a romantic birthday getaway for me.  It’s one of the best gifts I've ever gotten.  I look forward to it every year.  The first year he surprised me with it, and it was a new experience for me, something I’d never done.  Ever since, when he asks what I want for my birthday, I tell him the same thing.

I want to go to the Formula Drift Finals in Irwindale California.  What? That’s not on your list of places to go?  That doesn't sound romantic to you?  You don’t know what Drifting is?  Whatever.  I do, and it has become a Motorsport favorite for us.  It’s loud, it’s wild and when you sit 15 feet from the track as we do, you get covered with tire rubber and smoke from every run.  This is when only wearing jeans and a black t-shirt is a really good idea.  In fact, here’s my hat, which I thought I got clean, still covered with tire residue.  You’ll have to imagine how it smells.
I’m sad to say after 20 years of marriage, I can’t always remember what birthday or Christmas I got a particular piece of jewelry, even though I love everything he ever gave me.  But the memories from the things we've done together carry a different value for me, especially since I have people that I’ll never be able to make new memories with, now that they have gone on to be with the Lord. 

I heard recently that the chemical reaction our body produces in response to a pleasurable event or circumstance is replicated when we remember that event.  That means you can feel the enjoyment all over again.  Who doesn't want that?

Stuff will burn like rubber on a racetrack, but the enjoyment in experience lasts a lifetime.   



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