Catch my drift?

Brat Boy asked me why I still took a daily inventory after being sober so many years.  I told him inventories were one way to keep from drifting back to old bad habits.  I explained that most people don’t make a conscious decision to screw up their lives, they drift into dangerous waters. 

“Drift erodes almost everything good you can think of,” I told him, “from healthy eating to ethics.   Smart people don’t let drift set in.  Let me give you an example.” He rolled his eyes, but I plowed ahead.

“One day I picked up your grandfather to go fishing.  This was maybe ten years ago, so figure your grandparents had been together at least fifty years.  As he got up to leave, your grandmother, in that stern voice of hers, asked ‘aren’t you forgetting something?’  Your grandfather patted his pockets to make sure he had his keys and his wallet.  He held up the phone in his hand and slid his sunglasses from the top of his head down over his eyes.  Just then he noticed the big smile on your grandmother’s face.”

“He didn’t forget anything, she was just messing with him,” Brat Boy guessed.

“He forgot to kiss her goodbye.  They never let their relationship drift, they always looked after the little things that kept their romance alive.  That’s why they were so happy together. There’s a reward for not letting the good things drift.”

Today I will beware of drift.

Life on Life’s Terms II © 2015 by Ken Montrose

(Just a reminder: LOLT II is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to anyone you might know is purely coincidental.)