Saturday, July 15, 2023

Bad Habits -- sort of

I picked up some bad habits while in Mexico last month.
The kids live in a very walkable community. Everything is close by and walking is pretty safe at any hour of the day or night. It is a resort area with a vibrant night life, plenty of affordable restaurants, and there is always something to do for both locals and tourists. We were going out pretty much every night.

In our first week back home I was out with people 4 of the 7 days. This week it's going to be 3 of 7. 
What is going on?

To be completely honest, most of it is pretty cool. I probably wouldn't go out if I totally hated it. I do tend to be ready to leave before most people as my energy wanes and my tolerance for people diminishes, but I am usually with people of my choosing and people that I enjoy being around. There may not be a lot of those people and I find it interesting how different they are from me and from one another. 

Tonight we will be at a Springfield brewery listening to some of our friends play. Their little cover band has really grown in popularity and I am so happy that they seem to be playing somewhere most weekends. They have a great following and so most of the venues where they play end up packed full. We usually see other people that we know and have a good evening of conversing and listening to music.

If we were in Puerto Vallarta next Monday night, we would be at a little neighborhood bar/restaurant listening to one of our new friends play his acoustic guitar and sing popular covers and some original stuff, as well. Our small group of PV friends would be there supporting him, conversing with one another, and enjoying an evening out.

I wonder how these friends from very different worlds would get along with one another. 
Since I tend to gravitate toward people that have open minds and open spirits, I think they would mesh pretty well. Daily life in PV is much slower and has so much less stress than daily life in the US. 
But even in the busy (often stressful) life of the US, music has its way of calming (or energizing) the spirit and releasing the stress. 

Being out in public may not be as bad if I get to choose the people I'm with. I prefer smaller groups and even smaller (one on one) conversations within those groups. The problem (as I see it) with going out in public is that too often the public shows up!
sigh

John

1 comment:

Mike said...

"too often the public shows up!"
And ruins everything!