Showing Up

I am on an airplane heading home from San Jose, CA following the wedding of a dear friend of mine.  It was such an amazing event.  This couple was a bit "older" than many for their first wedding and the benefit of this is how much the event truly reflected who they are and their special relationship.  I danced, I ate well, I met wonderful people including some new friends, I got to go with a dear friend of mine and spend special time with her and best of all, I got to show up for my dear friends'  special event.   It was truly a happy time!I was honored to be a guest and to have even been acknowledged by the groom who claimed in his vows to "never impede the bride's flow" which apparently was a request by the bride following one of my retreats!!!  The day after the wedding was a super fun day of rafting and a wonderful bbq and better than all of that, an opportunity to hang out with the bride and groom in a much more relaxed manner. 

I left the river and went to San Jose for the night before this flight and had an opportunity to reflect on the entire experience.   There were a hundred reasons why I should not have gone to this wedding - it was a long flight, it's the end of the kids' school year and I missed some activities, it was expensive, logistics were challenging as it involved plains, trains, automobiles, rafts....  

Every opportunity gives us a chance to evaluate trade offs like this.  There are reasons to do it and reasons not to.   When deciding whether or not I wanted to go, I looked at why I would go.  The bride and groom have been amazing friends to me for many years.   We have laughed and cried together and traveled together.  Whenever I asked them to show up, they did.   I had no choice - I had to show up for them.   Also, traveling like this always leads to some kind of adventure and always some good memories.

I think many enjoyable things in life are kind of like this - they involve some kind of trade off and even stress in order to experience the pleasure.   I invite you all to say yes a little bit more often in your life and show up for the people that matter in your life!    I promise you it will greatly enhance the richness of your life and the joy will always outshine the hardships.