Enjoying Every Sandwich in an Instagram World

On the waterfront

"Enjoy every sandwich," advised the late, great Warren Zevon.

No one takes this motto to heart more than I do lately.

I'm about to leave Verizon, where I have worked (if you count predecessor companies NYNEX and Bell Atlantic) for more than 34 years.

This past week, I've been savoring every routine moment of the work day: waving to the guards at the entrance gate, listening to the chatter of my colleagues in our open office, responding to reporters and sparring with a curmudgeonly editor, using the Thrive app to order my daily chicken sandwich and then running into so many well-wishers on my way to and from the Verizon Basking Ridge Cafe. Heck, even my last dry-cleaning pickup was free this week (thank you, Willow French Cleaners!).

I also took many photos: using my dash cam to capture the campus as it appears when emerging from the bridge over North Maple Avenue, recording a last log-on at the Verizon gym, trying for an Instagrammable second-story view of the new basketball court from the new parking garage.

In 2019, this is the way I enjoy -- and remember -- life: Taking cell phone photos.

In this way, I am very different than my wife of less than 33 years.

Nancy's view is that people these days don't really appreciate life's moments because we are viewing them through our cell phones. We then edit our lives and package the images for social media.

At the gym

Guilty. Just look at my Instagram feed.

Last night on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, Nancy went on a sunset cruise around Manhattan with my sisters-in-law.

Take photos, I asked, before she left.

She obliged. She sent me one photo... of the three of them toasting their voyage.

No Instagrammable New York City skyline for me.

Instead, Nancy focused on the sunset last night, while those around her were losing their heads to their cell phones and cameras. She savored the moment with her own eyes, in her own way.

This lesson is not lost on me. This morning, before dawn, I rose to watch the sun rise. I didn't take my cell phone with me.

It was beautiful, and I enjoyed it.

Oh, I'll still be taking my share of photos. To each his own, right? And maybe I could have used just a little more sleep on this beautiful first Saturday of summer.

Still, as Warren Zevon also once sang:

I'll sleep when I'm dead.

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PS - One sister-in-law stayed over last night, and this morning I asked if she took any photos. She said no, they were busy catching up and enjoying the view. Besides, she said, noting that they've done this annual outing for several years now, "How many bad photos of the Statue of Liberty do I need to take in my life?"