Once in a life

Our recent road trip elicited many responses:

• How far? How much? How many?

• Did you take an RV?

• How many people did you fit into that car?

• Do you still like one another?

Stories also prompted judgements:

• Must be nice to take so much time off…

• You went in this [political] climate?!

• I could never…[and I'm not sure why you would]

• Once in a lifetime…

The last one is what bothered me: once in a lifetime.  I really didn't notice until I mentioned a similar excursion two years ago and talked about the next one we have planned. 'But I mean this trip is once in a lifetime'. 

Aren't they all?  I mean, isn't each trip we take unique?

I've had the opportunity to attend big, select events like the Super Bowl.  We paid for the tickets assuming we'd never get the opportunity to go again, just like we did at the Final Four or the big concert, before the lead singer died: once-in-his-lifetime perhaps.

The opposite has also been true: we attend the same beach every year with the family, yet the experience changed once the kids arrived and continues to change as they grow and people move and we grow:  same beach + different people = new trip.

So I wondered: there are certainly some things that we'll only get to do once in our lifetimes, yet it's greatly improbable that we know what those are.  Rather, I wonder if the focus is better spend on the lifetime part of the phrase rather than the once part.

I've talked with people that have pulled their kids out of school and took them across the country -- their trip became their (temporary) lifestyle.  The planned their lives accordingly, sold their commitments and learned how to teach fractions again. Once in a lifetime became a lifestyle.  These is a choice we get to make: what life do we want?  Rather, these are the choices -- a lot of them -- that become our life. 

Choose life, won't you.  You only get to live it once.