The freedom this job affords me

Today, I'm delving into personal territory. Nothing bad, it's good really. I've been so busy this week with writing assignments, appointments and trying to wrap up a bear of a project that I decided to visit my cousin who I hadn't seen in nearly nine months.I was in the neighborhood where he owns a business, literally blocks away so I figured I'd pay him a visit and catch up. It was so nice to take a much needed break from a busy week and have a nice chat with my cousin Gaby and his wife.I always love conversations with Gaby because he tells me all these great stories about growing up in Cuba, about my parents and grandparents and the kind of life they had over there. It's really amazing too that each and every time I learn something new. Sure, we talk about the same old stuff, which I never get tired of doing but the new discoveries are so cool.He told me how he and my two brothers used to walk over to the dog track in Miramar, a very nice section of Havana, where my Dad and his sisters all worked at night so they could go out to dinner with them. And how there was an annual car race in Havana which I realized is probably how my brother Manolo became such a car fanatic. He still istoo, glued to the TV for all the car races, a huge collection of model cars in the spare room at his house and a cool blue shiny Ford Mustang sitting in his driveway.What I'm getting at is that just a little half hour that I took today to make a visit, which I never would've been able to do if I worked full-time, made this such a memorable day. The conversation with my cousin reminded me of the great talks I used to have with my Mom about the same exact stuff. He brought that memory back for me which made it the perfect ending to my day.