#YOLO or #YOGAO

Long before the days of social media and acronymns, the theory of YOLO was alive and well in Gordy's house.  It was usually the reason given for one of his spontaneous plans to have fun.   His actual  phrase was "You only go around once, Pal.  You might as well enjoy it."

 "Pal" was his generic term for his kids and later,  grandchildren.   We all felt good inside when we heard it.  It might mean just about anything was coming, but you were going to be part of the journey.  Sitting in geography class in the 7th grade, a messenger came from the school office with a note for me, which read "Gather all of your books and please come to the office."   I could not imagine why, but did as instructed, only to hear that my parents were picking me up to go on vacation.  One hour later, I was on the way to the airport for an adventure with Gordy.

I say it was an adventure "with Gordy" because my mother seemed to just go along for the ride, accepting the next surprise just as we did.  He kept our destination a secret and a few hours later, we were seeing Florida in the midst of winter, in all it's warmth and beauty.  I remember getting into the rental car and watching my Dad put the top down on the 1966 convertible, listening to my mother caution him to slow down, as he seemed to fly across Florida's causeways, shouting to us to look at the beauty of Miami at midnight.

The week was memorable, with lots of family time swimming and waking each day with NO plan.  There is something wonderful about a visit to Sea World, just because it sounds good that day.  For me, to this day, a real vacation is one without plans.  I learned to love the idea of waking up and doing exactly what "sounds good".  While others grapple with the idea,  of what sounds disorganized, both my brother and I love to create a plan in moments and make it happen.  We learned that we could make anything happen, just because it "sounds good".  

His reason for the trip was simple.  "It was snowing, cold and we needed to have some family fun."  Within hours, he scheduled time off work, booked flights, packed our suitcases, called the school and had us on a plane.  He was "Cookin' with gas!"

On the way to the airport, he stopped to buy a new "movie camera" to record the memories and bought me my own camera.   Before his death, he had those memories transferred to play them in his VCR and we enjoyed watching that wonderful week together.  I still smile when I hook up my old VCR to see it again.  Family time at it's best, unplanned with no schedule to meet.  "You only go around once, Pal!"