Reflection: The Older You Get, the More Memories You Have!

As I was sitting here, contemplating what to blog about today, it occurred to me that I spend far more time looking for inspiration among past memories than I do finding them in current events and happenings.

After a bit of careful consideration, I recognized that part of what is playing out here is the simple fact that as I have gotten older I also have an ever-growing repository of memories to draw on for inspiration.

And it's definitely not a case of my sitting still and wasting away, here! It just seems like it is much easier to pull "an interesting anecdote" from somewhere in the past.

This afternoon, I was thinking about investing, which suddenly brought to mind a man whose house I visited while in Spain some 15-20 years ago, visiting my parents... and I realized (while looking for the bathroom) that these people actually had a couple of genuine Picasso paintings hanging as decor... in their pre-teen children's bedroom!

I suppose what was so striking about this particular moment was the fact that I suddenly realized that these people were living in a completely different universe from myself. And I didn't exactly grow up in a poor family, although I have never been particularly well off, as an adult.

This brought up another memory of "a whole different life" incident I had, even earlier in life.

When I lived in Texas, a friend of mine was the manager of a furniture store where I had occasionally shopped a bit. Well, she also happened to be the Aunt of the person Bill Gates started Microsoft with.

So Jo calls up one day and wanted to know if we wanted to go to a NBA basketball game. I thought "well, why not," figuring we were probably going to drive down to San Antonio for a Spurs game.

But that was not what we did. Instead we drove to the airport and boarded Paul's private 737 jet and flew to Portland, Oregon the game... because he owned the Portland Trailblazers. Again, mind blown.

This simply was not a universe I inhabited!

Of course, the vast majority of my life has definitely not existed on such an outrageous scale.

I can with a lot of certainty say that I have never had aspirations to that sort of lifestyle or wealth. I know it motivates a lot of people to strive for greater... but I guess I just never had the ambition or drive.

Which leaves me realizing that even though I might spend a fair amount of time commenting on my relative state of poverty, I am actually not very oriented towards wealth. As long as I can enjoy a fundamental sense of financial security, I'm pretty content.

That said, I am definitely grateful to have had these exceptional experiences!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your weekend!

How about you? Have you ever had "odd" experiences with extreme wealth? Did you feel like it was a whole different world? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2023.11.19 00:22 PST
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