Back From Orlando

I just flew home to Virginia yesterday morning after a wonderful time visiting friends in Orlando. The next two weeks will be incredibly busy writing papers and preparing for finals, so blogging may continue to be light, but I will post when I am able.

The past week was a great time of connectedness and a wonderful reminder of how important relationships are in life. I have rarely regretted time I've spent getting to know others or time spent with family.

Around the time I was graduating college (for the first time), I decided on two ways I wanted to strive to live my life:

1) I wanted to always be available for my friends and loved ones and enjoy spending time with them, placing people above my schedule.

2) I wanted to value experiences over material things.

While neither of these maxims are precise, absolute, or quantifiable, I have found them to be quite useful for trying to evaluate how to best spend my time and money in life. As an economist, I relaize there are always trade-offs in everything and that neither of these are absolute at the margin, but they do reflect the strength of preferences I have and the direction I strive to keep.

My time in Orlando reminded me of the value of these choices. I truly feel rich in terms of the depth of relationships I have with my friends and family and the memories I have shared with them. I wouldn't trade that for anything.