Adjust and Move Forward

Lewis: I don't even know what I'm doing.
Wilbur: Keep moving forward.
Lewis: I mean, this stuff is way too advanced for me.
Wilbur: Keep moving forward.
Lewis: And what if I can't fix this, what are we going to do?
Wilbur: Keep moving forward.
Lewis: Why do you keep saying that? And don't just say keep moving forward!
Wilbur: It's my dad's motto.
Lewis: Why would his motto be keep moving forward?
Wilbur: It's what he does.

~ Meet the Robinsons (2007) ~

It’s so incredibly easy to take the people in your life for granted, the things they do and say, the support they provide even when you don’t realize they’re doing it. But when they go, that’s when you notice; that’s when you wish you could go back and change things or just spend more time with them, except that’s not how we’re meant to experience the world. Like it or not things change, time moves on and you must make the decision, here and now, on how you will move forward with it.

I’ve had the same job for 14 years, and during that time I’ve seen quite a few of my co-workers come and go. Today, however, I said goodbye to a woman who has sat in the cube on the other side of the wall from me for nearly half the time I’ve worked here. Her job was eliminated and she is moving on. Today was her last day.

She was what I would call a work friend, one of those glorious people you share your day with, but you don’t often see after 5pm. Nevertheless, she’s seen me through the birth of both my children, watched them grow, and anytime I bring them to work, they always look forward to visiting with her. I’ve heard the stories of her son’s tour of duty in Iraq and the arrival of each one or her grandchildren. We’ve complained about our jobs together, weathered the storm of each merger that crossed our paths, and helped each other on tasks in the off chance we needed it. We didn’t work directly on the same team, but when you’ve worked with someone in the same place for that long, it really doesn’t matter.

I asked her, this morning, what she planned to do with her time now that she won’t have to get up at the crack of dawn. Her answer was that she wasn’t sure, but truly believed that everything happens for a reason, and until that reason makes itself known, she has lots and lots of books she’s been meaning to read. Since this is a belief I hold also, I hope the reason is one that brings her and her family tons and tons of joy.

I guess it would have been nice to spend more time with her, but change isn’t always something you can control, so you focus on the things you can control, the way in which you keep moving forward. And this theme from Disney’s “Meet the Robinsons” has always been an inspiration for me. The difference is that Lewis got to go into the future and see the wonderful things that would happen to him, but all those wonderful things wouldn’t have happened if he’d managed to successfully change all the regretful things from his past. So, I will miss my friend, and I may not be able to visit my future to guarantee that she will remain in my life, but I’m ever hopeful that our friendship will continue to keep moving forward.

Now I wonder, would you ultimately want to sacrifice your future, just to change something about your past? Or what decision, in this exact moment, will you make to keep moving forward?