Today we mostly want you to keep thinking about your Regret-Me-Not list, and we have a few SHORT but IMPORTANT posts to read. Hopefully you can sneak these into a quiet moment in your day:
1) First, check out this post about my brush with the Stanley Cup, and how my epic fail inspired a personal rallying cry and the artwork above.
2) Next, read about how this new rallying cry directly led to me losing my coffee virginity.
3) And finally, some thoughts on why it might be a good idea to be a hoarder.
Escape Lab LIVE is TONIGHT!
Join us tonight (Tuesday, February 3) from 8:00-9:00 pm CST for more smiles and shenanigans. If you’re new to this, all you have to do is go to this special event page starting at 8:00 pm. We will be posting questions and comments right on that page, and you will be able to Like, leave comments, and post questions of your own. You might want to drink a Mountain Dew or fill your Must Be Nice mug with something caffeinated, because the action gets pretty intense!
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Are you a memory hoarder? Have you ever had a Remember Stanley moment, whether you missed out on a memory or took advantage of a chance to make one?
I am NOT letting Adultitis win! It has gotten extraordinary busy at work, but I’ve decided that’s just going to help me make this wonderful experience last longer. (I forward the emails to my home address…) Yeah, maybe I’ll be doing the late-January activities in mid-March, but I’ve got the tools, and will eventually make the time. The weekend we were supposed to tickle our tastebuds, I tried a grilled onion cheddar burger at Mickey D’s, and some Reese’s peanut butter ice cream. I never get around to posting pictures, but I do appreciate this opportunity! Just call me turtle…
I think it would be more accurate to call you “normal.” :)
Jason, when I think of your Stanley story I think of the ripple effect you have created with it. Maybe you feel you missed an opportunity, but look what you have done with it, You created thought provoking teaching moments for people all over. You didn’t miss a story, you created a better one.
Aw shucks, that’s nice of you to say, Debbie. I’m glad that’s how it worked out!
But still, I’d like to get a picture with Stanley someday. ;)
A Christmas newsletter we started years ago has forced us to be memory hoarders. Our goal is to share news from the year in a way that entertains, rather than brags, and our newsletter typically includes the funniest and most embarassing moments of our year. We’ve had many friends and family members tell us how much they look forward to our newsletter each year, which has raised the bar considerably. The upside is it requires us to take note of events, funny family member quotes (I’ve got two for 2015 already!), and stories, and our newsletter ends up as a record of many of the things we want to remember. I will say that once we started to try and escape adultitis, our newsletters became a lot more fun. While we still have our share of Stanley moments, we have had more great experiences, thanks to your inspiration, than we would have otherwise.
What a neat “hack” to force yourself to make memories and fight Adultitis! In many ways, this whole business is my and Kim’s attempt to do that very thing!!!
You guys help keep us accountable! :)
That sounds so fun! I’ve not been good about Christmas cards since my divorce, so people may be striking me from their lists, but they seem to be a lost art. I used to get a couple dozen or more, but with the rise of Facebook, I got two last year and ZERO this past Christmas. Thanks for continuing a noble tradition ;)
Here is a “I remembered Stanley” moment although it happened before “Remember Stanley” became a rallying cry. ;>)
One day as I was walking to the cafeteria, one of the instructors stopped to talk to me about marathons. Anyone who knows me knows that running is not in my vocabulary – even being outdoors is not on my let’s-do-it list. However, this instructor has a passion for running marathons and half-marathons and he tries to recruit people to join him in his passion. He invited me to go to Arizona for a marathon in January (this was the beginning of the fall semester). I told him that I don’t run at all … ever … even if a bear were chasing me. He said I could walk a half-marathon. So, I said I would think about it. (What! Am I crazy? That’s 13.1 miles.) Then, I found out the race would be on the exact day that I would turn 45 years old. That day would also mark the 35th anniversary of burying my great-grandma, who was a wonderful granny. Then, I thought about how some people raise money for causes when they run (or walk) in races and I thought about how I could raise some money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in memory of my granny, who died from leukemia. Once all of those ideas and dates came together, I realized I could not decline the invitation to go to Arizona. In spite of my family’s thinking that I was crazy (my brother-in-law said to me, “You do realize that’s like walking to Wyanet and back, right?) but with their support, I raised more than $2,100 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, I successfully trained for and completed a half-marathon, I donated both sets of my marathon/training shoes to an organization that revived them and then sent them to Africa, and I celebrated my 45th birthday at an outdoor concert after the race. (Outdoor concerts and my birthday don’t often go together here in Illinois.) If I had said “no,” I would have had a “Remember Stanley” moment. Anytime that I think I can’t do something, I remind myself of my 45th birthday.
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you go super girl!!
Just wonderful. What a great story and experience!
Fantastic!
I’ve left the country for Central America three times in the last two years, and one of those times I took my kids with me for a month. I’m planning another trip in May, and I will take my daughter. I’ve finally decided that there is good I can do (and yes, I know I can do good locally, but I can do it better locally with the Spanish skills I can only develop in an immersion situation), and that I need to not let my daughter’s school interfere with her education, and we just need to go DO THESE THINGS before I am old(er), before high school interferes, etc. I am essentially spending my retirement savings instead of really saving it, but I can’t bring myself to put my life on hold for some hypothetical future. I am a single mom, with a tight budget, but I’m deciding more and more often that my priorities don’t need to be what people expect. There is pushback, but I’m actually pretty proud that I’ve been able to share these incredible experiences with my kids. Plus, when retirement comes, I will have what it takes to live very inexpensively in a third world country, right?
Well, duh. I forgot to upload a couple of photos. If anybody is interested in looking it up, I was most recently at the St Francis Emmaus Center, a maternity and medical hostel for indigenous women in Costa Rica.
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So awesome, Lynn!