Live In the Moment

This short post is about me doing something I normally struggle with – abandoning my plans and living in the moment.

On a recent rainy Tuesday with our softball game cancelled, I decided to go to our sponsor’s pub - https://timkerwinstavern.com/ - for a couple of pints and a pizza to go. Other teammates were coming to the pub but not until later and I didn’t feel like waiting. Halfway through my first pint, 3 ladies across the bar asked me to sit with them. Normally I would have declined their invitation, ordered my pizza and gone home, but thanks to my recently acquired change in perspective I stepped out of my comfort zone – though it felt comfortable – and wound up having a great time.

They were a fun group – Diane, Dawn (aka Towanda), and Rhonda – out to blow off steam after a rough workday, and they felt bad for me as I was sitting alone. We exchanged stories and talked for about an hour. And when I found out that Diane goes to Islamorada, we were off and running, comparing notes on the places we like to go to there.

I was so focused on our conversation that I didn’t realize my brother-in-law (and softball team captain) had been standing right next to me for several minutes. I felt someone at the bar beside me but didn’t register that it was him until a break in the conversation. Being in the moment is not a strong point for me, but as I’ve written before, it is something I am working on, in this case without realizing it. My brother-in-law got a good chuckle out of how engaged I was in the conversation.

A moment later, another teammate came in and now my initial plan was completely changed. No Hawaiian pie for me (hey, don’t judge it until you’ve tried it). I ordered another pint and introduced them to the ladies. We gradually split back up into our separate groups and my teammates and I ordered food. A killer burger for dinner – not what I had planned on but by being open to going off plan and living in the moment, the evening turned out to be a lot of fun, and I made new friends too.

Ladies, thanks for letting me be part of your fun. It was exactly what I needed that evening.

www.RetiredandInspiredat55.com 8-21-2023