The Ultimate Luxury

“I want what you have” he said, awkwardly backing me into the corner of a party I was already uncomfortable at.

Immediately my mind started racing.

I did just moved into a different house. Was that it?

I do drive a nice, but 10yr old, car. That?

I know it isn’t the new Wallabees I’m wearing because my wife hates them. She says they remind her Mr. Detolla, her high school science teacher. She calls me Mr. Detolla every time I wear them.

Still racing. Still nothing.

Then, I remembered seeing his face.

We crossed the street in front of his car while he was stopped at the light.

“We” was my son and I. I’d bought him a road bike for his 11th birthday. I love road biking. It would have been a pretty selfish purchase had my son not been asking for one for a few years. So, I bought it and we’d started riding together. First, on short rides around the neighborhood then longer, more difficult, rides up the canyons around our house.

With all the travel and work and other things over the summer we’d been pretty inconsistent, but we started to find our groove this fall. The rides themselves were nothing out of the ordinary. He was slow and I was impatient.

But something magical happened when we were riding together. Our hands were on the bars and not on our phones. Our eyes were on the road and not on our screens. We were talking and riding and laughing and sweating. And he started to love something that I loved. That we now loved together.

“I’ve been trying to get my kids into fishing, or anything I like really, and they just won’t. So when I saw you with your son today I was jealous. I want that with my kids” he said.

Ah, now I was getting it. This wasn’t about the bike or the fishing pole or the Wallabees. This wasn’t about stuff.

The greatest luxury item I had that he wanted was time. Uninterrupted, unfiltered, distraction free time with his kids.

I’m tying up a bunch of loose ends today before checking out for the holidays. My wife and I were reviewing the kid’s Christmas lists this morning.

They want a lot of things.

But, I can’t shake the awkward conversation from a few months back that helped me appreciate a bit more of what I already have.

So that’s at the top of my list this year.