MEMORIES
Over 50 years ago Susie King Crowell said to me, “Fred, let’s make great memories because when we are old, all we will have left will be memories.
After two years of courtship and 54 years of marriage, Susie’s wisdom has proven to be accurate.
We have a thick book of memories that have shaped our lives and given us not only great joy but passion to make more memories.
Each experience in our lives has three components.
THE PREPARATION COMPONENT
This is an exciting time. The better the preparation the better the experience.
A little boy with his catalog of toys under his arm months prior to Christmas, with over $1,000 in toys marked for Santa to bring him gleams with anticipation.
The diehard football fanatics eagerly waiting for the first football game. Some even spend hours upon hours researching to build their fantasy team.
Parents expecting their first child. Wow, what a joyful time that is!
The better prepared you are the better the experience.
THE ACTUAL EXPERIENCE COMPONENT
How can we make this a great experience?
This is the crucial question during this phase.
Living right here right now is one of the keys.
Living in gratitude is vital.
Have goals and a plan to make the experience a memory maker.
THE MEMORY COMPONENT
This is the best of the 3 experiences because it can be experienced over and over and over again.
Winning the moment is so important in building great memories.
The remarkable thing about memories is that some of the ones we enjoy best are those that at the time were not enjoyable at all.
When 37 of us visited Italy on a basketball tour. The plane was delayed for hours and hours. Instead of spending our first night in Naples Italy, we were overnighted in Paris.
One of many problems was being held up at the Paris airport for over five hours because a passenger left a green bag on the floor. The police shut the airport down.
Rather than waste time, the players went through a one hour Paris airport Crowell basketball workout. People stopped, looked on with unbelieving eyes, some even laughed.
This negative experience turned into a very positive experience. 37 people will remember this day for the rest of their lives. The Paris workout will be a chapter in their living memory book.
In conclusion, there are two obvious takeaways.
One idea would be to write a memory book of your life for your children and grandchildren to read.
The second idea would be to make a great memory today and tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.
On the Crowell 2019 Greatest Year Plan – thankfulness is a focused conscious level actionable goal.
Thankfulness is such a good thing why not be thankful right here – right now.
