Amanda Lamb: Time well spent

In our hurried, chaotic, social-media-infused culture, it’s easy to dismiss the value of spending time with the people we love. It’s almost as if we look at spending time with our friends and family as a luxury, a means to an end or just a stop along the way to the next more important thing.

As I get older, I realize that being with the people we love, especially our children, is the thing. Sometimes, we need to be reminded of this. This past week I went on vacation alone for the first time with my 15-year-old. Sure, we had traveled together to visit grandparents before and to dance competitions, but this was the first real vacation spent together, just the two of us. It was her spring break, and her college-aged sister was still away at school, so I planned a little getaway.

We shopped, went to the beach, ate ice cream, and took more selfies than I have probably taken in a lifetime. But the best part was just being with my daughter.

With no pressing agenda, no distractions, and responsibilities momentarily shelved, we had time to talk—we talked about important things, and also about a lot of non-important things. We talked about what it was like when I was growing up in Pennsylvania. We talked about what it’s like to be in high school in 2019. But mostly, we just talked without a need to jump up and rush to the next thing.

It was a welcome reminder to me that there is nothing that can replace the gift of time we give to each other. There is no amount of money, no coveted physical object, no job that is more important than the time we spend engaging in sincere moments with the people we love.

Before everyone was lost in their cell phones, we learned the art of real conversation. It’s time to bring it back—especially with the people we love the most, our children. It’s an investment you will never regret…​