Pittsburgh, et al

I love Pittsburgh.

I love muffalettas and the way they serve French Fries on a salad or sandwich instead of next to it.  I love the sky-scraping buildings, dozens of floors above Erie's tallest.  I love the city lights at night and the way they reflect off the water.  I love the quiet streets where I inevitably get lost.  I love the shopping, I love the restaurants.  I love the blue-collar atmosphere.   I love Pittsburgh.

Once a year or maybe twice we have a meeting in Pittsburgh.  Our company pays for a single room in  a nice hotel, usually the Marriot.  We spend the day cloistered in a meeting room; at night we go to decent  places for dinner and drinks.  I get a chance to commiserate with the teammates I rarely see.  We bond over calamari and filets.  We laugh and share ideas. We get caught up on new homes, new babies, new pets, new territories.  We are energized.

I got to thinking.  Maybe I need to get energized in the other areas of my life, now, not later.  I can't have a team meeting with my old friends...or can I?  I can't have a get-away with my family...why not?  In the business world, we lose customers every day.  I don't lose friends that often.  If a product is no longer profitable, we discard it.  I could do that with my junk and with those people who try my patience.  If something doesn't pass the consumer testing, it is taken off the assembly line.  I could do that with things and relationships that no longer work.

There are those who will never be friends, never be worth the trouble. It's time, I guess, to discard them and move on. Not because it is too late--I am still breathing, as are they--but because I have so many other things I want to do.  My bucket list and I aren't getting any younger.

I'm going to Pittsburgh tomorrow.  I am going to take the time on my way down and my way back, after dinner and during my morning exercise to reflect on those thoughts, feelings and material things that I have to throw out.  It's time to get energized. When I get home, I will have made decisions.  I am determined to accomplish things I have been putting off.  The time is now.

 I want to love everything like I love Pittsburgh, even if I get lost on the way.

See you Thursday.