If you ask me, stories make the world go round. When people gather, stories inevitably appear. I don’t claim to portray the best stories, but I do enjoy telling one once in a while. A friend recently observed that all my best stories come from the days when I worked in a worked a group home. He may be right – if so, I’m not sure how I feel about that. Is my life so boring that all my good stories come from 15 years ago?

On one hand, I’m okay with some of those stories staying in the past. I really enjoyed working in a group home and forging deep relationships with both kids and co-workers. In fact, Esposa and I may have never met had we not worked in a group home together. On the other hand, I’m okay with those stories staying in the past. As wonderful as the group home was to work at, it was also quite a challenge.

I also want to make new memories. I don’t want Hijo to grow up only knowing stories from my past and nothing from my present. I want to create positive, fun, lasting memories. Honestly, I want to arrive at the office on Monday morning and regale others with the fun our family had over the weekend.

The problem is, I’m not typically a person who makes choices in life that result in good stories. My tendency is to play it safe and let stories find me (when working in a group home, stories appear everywhere). However, I’m choosing a bit more proactivity in story-making of my current life. For instance, we just bought bikes for Esposa and Hijo. With them, we’ve already made some great memories and bonded as a family. This year we’re planning on taking a family vacation with just the three of us. That’s new territory for us. It’s another new opportunity to create new stories and memories.

If I’m not careful, I’ll look up in another 15 years and have wished I’d lived a little more and worried a little less. My life will have been simply boring. So I’m choosing to create some new stories in my life starting today.