Latest / Forged In The Dark / Why You Love What You Love
Transcript
- Forged In The Dark: The people that shape what you love often shape it in ordinary repeated moments. Not one big life-altering event, but by showing up the same way over and over and over. And today I am thinking of fireworks and my love for fireworks and how it all started with. My grandpa. Welcome to Forged in the Dark. I'm your host, Jamie. Let's dig in. Now my grandfather, my grandpa, Papa Chuck, was always my favorite person. Now he passed when I was 17, ⁓ way, way sooner than I was ready to let him go. But the memories that we have, it some of them are fun fun memories, and some of them literally have shaped my identity. With the things that I still love to this day. Some of my early childhood experiences with my grandpa literally would shape how I parented, how I love, how I work hard, how I take care of the people around me. But before we get into anything heavy or serious or any lessons, imagine an amusement park. And imagine being too short to get on the ride. Now, where I grew up in Ohio, not too far away, was an amusement park called Giaga Lake. And Gaga Lake had the double loop. And the double loop was my favorite ride, but I wasn't tall enough, I wasn't tall enough to get on. And of course this was back in the day before the safety standards and regulations like you know now now it it's it's really serious they back the kid up to the to the ⁓ to the height line and if they don't make it no hard feelings that kid does not get on the line or get on the ride but back in the day all I had to do was to stand on my grandpa's feet And they let us on the ride. And they didn't just let us on the ride. They let us on the ride over and over and over. And every time that ride ended, I said, Grandpa, let's go again. And we went again. And I couldn't have been more than five. And this would spark a whole love of roller coasters that would last, you know, probably into my early twenties. But that wasn't the only childhood memory that stands out about my grandpa. Fourth of July. Okay, so I think my grandpa was just really big on holidays. He loved having everyone together. He loved celebrating. it was this humble yet big kind of celebrating. I don't I don't know. I I don't know where that came from, but if you get it, you get it. Like everything there was there was always lots of really good food. Everything was was just fancy enough to be nice, but but not fancy enough to be stuffy. And and I don't know why that is in here. I've said it twice now. So someone needs that description of my grandpa for some reason. But I was actually I was on the phone with a friend the other day and I was talking about how much I love fireworks. And and I actually let myself think back and start to remember the real reason why I love fireworks so much. And I'm going to paint another picture for you here. I mean, imagine this is this is the 80s ⁓ Kmart. parking lot, mint green Ford F 150 blankets in the bed, adults with folding chairs, kids in the bed of a truck. Big, those big tins of popcorn. You know, the ones with the the cardboard divider. Just there was caramel corn and cheddar por corn and and plain popcorn. And so we we'd have popcorn and we'd have pretzels, just simple, simple snacks. And and we'd sit there forever until the sun went down. But once the show finally started, I remember being transformed. The only thing I remember from the moment the fireworks started was watching magic in the sky. And Maybe fireworks were a lot more exciting for us because life was more simple. There weren't these ⁓ my gosh, like video games, and and I'm not dissing video games in any way, shape, or form. I'm just saying there wasn't as much electronic stimulation for us back then. Our expectations were lower. Fireworks were a big deal. But I remember. Starting from that Kmart parking lot, my love for fireworks. And I have seen some fantastic fireworks shows over the years in Vegas and at Disney. If you've ever been to Disney, how they close out every day with a big fireworks show. I've seen extraordinary fireworks. But over the last few days, what I keep coming back to is that Kmart parking lot. And and how the people that showed up for you and the people that made things special, how the the real reason I love fireworks, I mean, yes, there was there was this magic in the sky. I was a child. But The real reason I love fireworks is because it makes me think of my grandpa. Now, this year fireworks were really different. The 4th of July was totally different for me. The people that I have spent the last few years with on 4th of July have moved. ⁓ my goodness, I moved. The city I live in moved the fireworks to the other side of the highway. And there was no way I was going to get stuck in traffic to see that show. So I saw little fireworks here and there. My friends and I did. As we sat in a backyard that normally would have been a front row seat to the show. And we talked about the little fireworks here and there. And we ate good pizza and we enjoyed good company. And I talked about my grandpa. And we talked about how things used to be so simple. And and I know that I had more of a point to this episode. I I know that there that there is some sort of lesson here. But In the years your life is different. Try to remember the things you love about the things you love. ⁓ my gosh, even on years that your life is not different. Why do you actually love that thing? Do you love it because you still love it? Or do you love it because someone you love loves it? What is your reason? I am ⁓ this moment, I am so grateful for all of these memories. I mean, anytime I've seen fireworks over the years, ⁓ I always think of my grandpa. ⁓ think of that big smile on his face. ⁓ was he was so hardworking. ⁓ worked hard for ⁓ all of ⁓ He, when say he was my favorite person, he was the only father figure I ever had. I remember how excited my grandpa used to get about all of these seemingly small things. For a man that worked night and day for for his for his wife, for his children, for all of us grandchildren. For a man that that showed up and and always helped others to leave. Me so imprinted with these beautiful experiences. Right now I'm just I am grateful for the memories, I am grateful for the fireworks, and and and I'm grateful that this year is different. I have never had a 4th of July that looked like this year looked, and that's okay. Life moves forward. ⁓ okay so one little one one gentle reminder here. I I having these memories. ⁓ I remembering the real reasons why I actually love things. ⁓ And will caution you don't get stuck in the past. Remember why you love what you love. Remember why you're doing what you do. Because otherwise you're just going through the motions. Okay. I don't know that I had a real big lesson for today, or if I just wanted to take you with me down memory lane. My grandparents were a very big part of my upbringing, a very big part of my childhood. And and I love that I have these memories. So what's your what's your fireworks? What what's that thing that you love? And and who does it remind you of? And how can that bring a little bit of joy into your day today, whatever your day looks like, no matter how different you are, no matter how different your life is, what's that thing you love and why do you love it? Okay. Until next time.