Sunday Night With John: Enjoy Your Journey!

Our journey today started a year ago almost to the day. I was with a number of friends and family at graduation party when a young pregnant lady arrived. After chatting with our group for a little bit she was getting ready to move on.  My fiancée’s mom, Cynthia, commented to this woman as she walked away, “Enjoy your Journey.” She wanted this young woman to enjoy her time being pregnant and understand that she was going through a life changing moment.  The young woman said thank you and moved on to another part of the party. A friend of mine began to laugh when the woman was out of hearing range, and asked, “Enjoy your journey? What does that mean?” Laughter ensued from us all as we began cracking jokes about going to get seconds on food, and then someone would shout out, “Enjoy your journey!”

This has lead to numerous cards, text messages, emails, and conversations going between a group of 15 people where the sentence “Enjoy your journey,” was stated. When the original friend who laughed at the first “Enjoy your journey” comment found out he and his wife were expecting a baby. Cynthia couldn’t wait to utter our new found saying.  Anne and I have joked about our engagement being a journey and have reminded each other to enjoy it. The great thing about this joke is that it reminds each of us that we should enjoy the journey of life as best we can. The best jokes always have a hint of truth; this one is full of truth.  If we forget to enjoy the journey we may miss the best part of the trip, party, engagement, childhood, vacation, college, parenting, or whatever personal journey you are on. If you come across me and I say laughing, “Enjoy your journey,” I mean it both as a joke, and as some of the best advice I can hand off to others.

Enjoy your Journey, and I’ll enjoy mine and when we cross paths, we can check in, share stories, and remind each other it’s been a great trip so far.