Lessons From the Aegean: What a Mediterranean Cruise Taught Me EP 447

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Hey there, guys, it's Brian coming from you from live in Mykonos, Greece. Our ship just pulled into port. And as I sit here looking at the hillside, it's rising up from the Aegean Sea. I wanted to share a few thoughts and reflections from this little adventure that I'm on. Now, if you know me at all, you know this: I don't like vacations, especially long ones, especially ones that take me a long way from home. And this is the longest one I've ever been on. It's, uh, going to be a total of, I guess, about 11 days, uh, or 11— yeah, 11 days and nights, something like that. And my wife and my friend Tom have been planning this for over a year, and honestly, for the over a year, I kind of was hoping this day would never come. But last Saturday it did. The Uber picked us up and took us to the airport, and we were on our way. So we had a few days in Venice. We were there for 3 days, followed by a 7-day Greek Isles cruise. And here I am on day 4, something like that, recording this for you. Um, I'm traveling with 6 of my, my dearest friends, people that I've known for decades, literally. Uh, the one I've known the shortest would be my friend Lisa. That's been, uh, a little bit over 10 years, I guess. The others for over 20 years. We've walked through life together. We've walked through birthdays, through funerals, through illnesses, laughter, loss, love, derby parties, New Year's parties, um, etc. These aren't just friends. These are our family. We call ourselves a framily tribe, uh, as a combination of friends and family. Now I have to admit, you know, we had spent 3 days in Venice, and when we got on the ship in Ravenna, we first pulled out of port, I kind of freaked out. 2 full days at sea without touching land again. We were supposed to be—

got—

we were supposed to be on a 40— a little bit less than 48 hours, but it turned out to be over 48 hours. And for someone who was both slightly claustrophobic an agoraphobic, that felt like a nightmare. Um, I couldn't get off of this ship if I wanted to. But here's a surprise: I, I didn't hate it. In fact, I, I loved it. I spent those days laughing, eating, watching shows, sharing drinks, and just being fully present with my people. And they— that's like they tell you if you've never been on a cruise ship, which I hadn't, it's like a floating city. It's like you forget you're actually on a ship. And I was sitting on the ship the other day as we were crossing the Adriatic Sea, and it hit me that people say vacations are about— or life is about the, um, destinations, but it's really about the journey. And I've always been a destination guy. I'm always moving to the next thing. This trip has actually slowed me down, softened me up, and reminded me how beautiful the, quote, in-between moments can be. Uh, as a matter of fact, I was supposed to give you guys a full episode today, and I got it all prepped so that when I got here I could do minimal work and get it out. But, uh, I decided I'm going to do this instead. So the friends I was telling you about, we've been together for so long and we're all over 60, the youngest being, uh, 61 and me being 64. So we've been through our share of challenges, and, uh, some of us has been through physical challenges, life-threatening illnesses. Um, one of us is a type 1 diabetic for over 50 and if you've known someone that's been through that, that's a challenge in itself with all the things that come with that. Um, I want to tell you in particular about my friend Lisa, um, because Lisa's on the trip with us, and Lisa's husband Mike, one of our closest friends, one of our family tribe, was supposed to be on this trip. And I was with Mike a couple days before his birthday in April. We talked Mike into having a birthday party, uh, for his 60th birthday and we left his house and 2 days later he passed away suddenly, just 3 weeks before his 60th birthday. And the day after he passed, Lisa herself suffered a heart attack. So this was on April 7th and 8th of 2025. We happened to be here and we were actually yesterday in Santorini, um, and the 5th month anniversary of Mike's passing happened on Sunday. And then on Monday, yesterday, we were at Santorini, as I said, and it was the 5th month anniversary of Lisa's heart attack. And as my wife Tawana and I climbed the steps to the 587 steps of Santorini, rising about 100 meters up, my wife and I, you know, we struggle with the walk. My wife, but I'm so proud of her, she's had double knee replacements 5 years ago. I'm 64 years old. We make it up. And we turn around and we see Lisa and Nick, her son. So talk about strength. I mean, Lisa, first of all, to come on this cruise, um, to, to be able to, to carry on and move forward in life, to climb, make that climb 5 months after suffering a heart attack, that's resilience. And that's just one example of what the people in our group are, have done and are doing. Today is actually Mike and Lisa's 30th wedding anniversary, and they were planning on celebrating it here in Mykonos. As I sit here and look over the hills, I think of how wonderful that would have been. Mike isn't here in body, but he's certainly here in spirit, and we celebrate him, we remember him, and we carry him with us. So as I look around at this group, people in their 60s, people who face illnesses, who, as I said, lived with diabetes, endured surgeries and endured imaginable, unimaginable losses. I'm really proud. Proud of the way that we keep showing up for life. Proud of the way we keep showing up for each other. The way we still laugh, the way we still love, the way we climb the mountains that set before us, both literal and metaphorical mountains. So normally by this point in the vacation, I'd be itching to go home. I'd be counting the days down until I could just get back to my own place, my own TV, my couch, my bed, my kitchen. But I'm not this time. I am— I'm enjoying it. I'm soaking it in, and I'm reminding myself to take it one day at a time. Uh, we've got 4 more days, 4 more full days on the cruise before we have a dreaded travel day on Saturday. But, uh, I'm going to look forward— I'm looking forward to it. So here's what I want to leave you with today. Life is short. None of us knows how many days we have here. We certainly don't know how many days we have left. But whether you have 5 minutes with someone, 5 years, or 50 years, whether you get to live for 5 minutes, 5 years, 50 years, or 100 years, it's all a blessing. Just being alive on this planet is a blessing in and of itself. And so instead of focusing on what we don't have or focus on what we don't lost, what we've lost, let's reflect back on what we did have. Let's reflect back on those moments, those 15 years I had with Shana, you know, the years that Lisa and Mike did have together, physically together. Let's treasure all of that, every single moment of it. So this trip has taught me this also. Even at 64, as a homebody who never thought he'd enjoy something like this, it's never too late to grow. It's never too late to stretch, and it's never too late to savor the journey. So wherever you are, my encouragement to you today is this: grab life today, squeeze it, take in everything it offers, and enjoy the ride. I'd love to hear what you think. I will catch you next week with a regular episode on Tuesday. But for now, from Mykonos, this is Brian D Smith reminding you, love lives on, and so does joy. I'll catch you next time.

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