The 2 questions she posed last week were:
1. If you could be locked in somewhere overnight, where would it be, and what would you do? Would you be by yourself, or with someone, and if so, who?
2. Many of us have one moment or decision that, if we could go back, we would choose differently. If you could go back and get a do over, what would you do?
To answer the 2nd question first, I think that I would like to go back and spend more time with my older boys when they were younger and in the lower grades in school.
When my family was young, I was working pretty hard. I used to think that that was the important thing that I had to do to provide for my family. I pretty much missed all of the events that happened in school and the field trips that went on while my oldest son was in school. I was always the guy who couldn't quite find the time to make it to the assembly, because there was one more important thing going on, that needed to get done first.
After my father passed away, I realized that I was misguided in that thinking. I tried to be more involved in what my kids were doing and made the time to be there. I got my bus driver's licence so I could drive on field trips, and followed my boys to basketball trips and all of the school activities that I could manage.
My two oldest boys are done school now, my youngest son is in grade 7. This is the first year that there isn't any Christmas concerts to go to and if there are any field trips, most likely, I won't be asked to drive the bus. I'm finding that I'm missing that. Especially this time of year. I kind of enjoyed watching the class programs that the little kids put on for the holidays. I wish that I could have been there more often to watch my older boys do their presentations.
If I had a do over, I wish I could go back and give those little kids the attention that they deserved when they were smaller. Because before you know it, they're not little kids anymore, and if you blinked, you just might have missed some of the most magical times ever.
So, for the first question, If you could be locked in somewhere overnight, where would it be, and what would you do? Would you be by yourself, or with someone, and if so, who?
On Carrie's post, she talked about spending the night in one of those grand bookstores, surrounded by books of every nature. At first, I thought that sounded pretty good. I love to read. My problem is, that I'm a notoriously slow reader. I just like to take my time. If I didn't quite understand a paragraph, I'll go back and reread it just to be clear. I might spend 4 months reading a book. My favorite time to read is in bed just before falling asleep, and more often than not, I'll wake up with the book on my chest. So, maybe the bookstore isn't the best plan for me?
Then I thought, I might like to be locked in a Victoria's Secret store with my wife. OH, the time I could have, watching her try all of those frilly things on! But, I'm no spring chicken anymore. I'm almost 45. With all of that visual stimulation, I'd be attacking my wife with all of the determination of an 18 year old, but these days, anything much more than a half hour, is a marathon. Then of course, I'd need a nap, and probably wouldn't wake up until the morning. So that might not be the best plan either?
Maybe, I might like to spend some uninterrupted time exploring the The Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I've always loved rockets and space and the idea of suiting up travelling into orbit and looking back on the Earth. I think they would have some pretty amazing things to look at. I might sit in a simulator and imagine that I'm circling the moon. Just look things over and get familiarized, just in case, one day, they need some middle-aged farmer to go into space to save the world.
You better believe that I'd rock that intense, slow-motion walk.
................although, actually leaving the ground and throwing up might not be so cool?
Anyways, that's my answers. Whether I win or not, doesn't really matter. I've got to connect with a bunch of fun people over the course of The Great Get-Away Give-Away Contest. That's the important thing here. I've made some new friends. And, I got to link back to Carrie's site multiple times, which is good too. She's a pretty awesome blogger, and I would encourage you just to stop over and take a look at her site and what she has to say. I'm quite certain that you'll want to stop back again.