Remember the sitcom, Seinfeld? Of course you do. It was only one of the funniest shows to ever air on TV. Some consider it to be the funniest. Now I am a huge Seinfeld fan, but to me, Cheers is the all-time funniest sitcom. But let’s concentrate on Seinfeld for now. Do you remember the show’s tagline? It was: Seinfeld…a show about nothing. It was a brilliant concept. Nothing really ever happened. In fact, most of the time, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer would hang out at either Jerry’s apartment or Monk’s coffee shop and…just talk….about nothing! And the formula worked. Well, this concept could be the theme of today’s blog. This is a blog about nothing. And just how special nothingness can be.

So far, in this Lessons Learned From the 80s blog, I’ve shared stories about getting kicked out of concerts, being scarred for life by scary movies, making life-long friends, being a below average football player, receiving detentions and suspensions, pretending to be a skater and much, much more. But today’s story tops them all. It’s a story about…you guessed it…nothing.

It was Saturday night in 1989 and I rolled out to the mall with my buddy, Chad Earhart. Why were we at the mall? Well, all you forty-something-year-old readers out there know the answer, but for all of the millennials reading this, I’ll explain. The eighties were a magical time without social media. We didn’t have Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram. Heck, this was even before MySpace. Nobody had cellphones. Texting wasn’t even a word back then. If you wanted to connect with your friends to find out what everyone was doing that night or where the party was, you had to go to the mall. This is where everyone congregated and socialized. There was even the proverbial mall-cop to break up crowds of teenagers who were standing in one place for too long. Loitering was a serious offense back then.

So I picked up Chad in my 1969 mustang (yes, this car made me a lot cooler than I actually was) and we rolled out to the Apple Blossom mall. We ran into some of our friends, but for whatever reason, not a whole lot of people were out on this night. We stopped in at the stores where some of our friends worked to try and find out where the field party was going to be that night, but we didn’t have much luck. We struck out at Record Town. Structure was a bust. And Poster World had nothing to offer.

Chad and I left the mall with nowhere to go, but we weren’t going to throw in the towel just yet. We piled back in the mustang and started driving around the mall parking lot. Maybe if we circled the mall enough times, we’d run into someone that could lead us to a party. We didn’t. But we did keep passing two young ladies in a car who were circling just as much as we were. They were probably looking for a party too. The first couple of times we passed them, we made eye contact. The next few times, we exchanged smiles with them. Then we actually got a wave from them. This night was looking up. Finally, they parked in an isolated part of the mall lot. We pulled in next to them, threw a little extra bass in our voices and proceeded to flirt with these girls. It took them less than five minutes to realize that they weren’t interested in us and they left.

Chad and I just sat there. We had no dates, nowhere to go, and nothing to do. So we went to McDonalds. We ordered our food. We ate our food. And we talked. And we talked some more. Then we left and rode around town for another few hours. And we talked. And we laughed. And then we talked some more. It was truly a night filled with nothing….nada…zip. So why am I sharing this story with you? Because after all these years, I still vividly remember this night. There was no monumental occurrence that transpired. We didn’t save anyone’s day. We certainly didn’t get the girls. There was nothing that would make this night stand out. But it did. And it still does. So what’s the key to this night being memorable? Chad.

When we look back on our lives, it’s not occurrences that drive our memories. It’s the people with whom we shared these moments that drive our memories. And that’s what happened here. Chad and I did absolutely nothing that night, yet it’s a wonderful memory for me. I’ve probably only seen or spoken to Chad a handful of times since then, but I’ll never forget that night. I make the mistake too often in life of trying to cram too much into mine and my family’s schedules in order to “create lifelong memories,” but I’m slowly but surely learning that I don’t need to do this. Memories will create themselves…sometimes out of nothing.

I was reminded of this fact last month when I took my family to Dewey Beach for vacation. My wife and I planned a day of hitting the boardwalk, going to a waterpark, indulging in an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet, and then possibly visiting the outlets for some shopping. Surely, a memory would transpire somewhere from all these activities. However, our kids had other plans. They simply wanted to spend the day on the beach. So we did. We packed a cooler of sandwiches and drinks and played in the ocean all day long. We did nothing except goof off and laugh and get knocked down by waves. And I can tell you this…I already know that I’ll remember that day forever. Just like my long, lonely drive with Chad, it wasn’t about what I did. It was all about whom I was with.

People matter much more in our lives than circumstances do. Take time to appreciate your friends and family and co-workers. You never know when you may be making memories with them.