Tales From The Road

It was short notice and unexpected, but I got a call tonight to shoot some “retired” hockey pros. They were in need of a few marketing shots for their up and coming podcast called Tales From The Road. I met them at the hockey rink and got a few action shots, some of them relaxing as they finished up, and then a couple of them at the bar afterward. It was fun to shoot. It was also fun to meet these well traveled and hilarious guys. They were super friendly and full of life and stories.

I started thinking about my stories from the MANY road trips I’ve taken for work, and I realized that most of them were by myself. I almost envy these guys for their stories of life lived in community with others. Very few of the stories I overheard were things they did alone. That rarely makes for an exciting tale.

Looking at my own travels, my stories start with, “my mission was…”, and ended with, “and I finished the job and headed home.” In between doing the work, was just time spent reading, watching TV, or working on other projects on the computer. I had proven that I could take on most jobs on my own and was resourceful enough to get them done by myself. So most of my trips, I was by myself. Not much to talk about. 

Don’t misunderstand me, I have lots of stories. It’s just that most of them involve my family. And that’s amazing! I love that I’ve spent enough time with my wife and kids to have those stories and experiences with them. Looking back at the large amount of time I’ve spent working by myself though, I do lament that I haven’t engaged the people around me better. I still tend to be hyper focused on whatever I’m working on and ignore what’s going on with the people around me. So the challenge to myself this week: engage the people around me. Find ways to share life rather than accomplish the current goal and move on to the next one. Really LIVE in the moment.