I just got back from Luxembourg. It was the best time I’ve spent on a holiday in years.

I was there to reunite with friends I first met in 1995, back when we were all starting our Architecture degree in Porto.

It’s been a long time, but it felt like no time had passed at all.

In Luxembourg we spent our days in a backyard. Anchored by a BBQ, a fridge full of beer, wine and bubbles. And good weather. We just sat there, eating and drinking.

We did one day of sightseeing, yes. But even then, we had a beer in hand.

Truly, it wasn’t about the landmarks. It was about the mood, about enjoying our time together.

We remembered the old times. We caught up on life. We asked about friends we haven’t seen in decades. We talked trash.

Mostly, we just laughed.

Maturity

As we approach 50, I notice a quiet maturity settling over my friends. Because we no longer have anything to prove, we also have nothing to hide. There is a profound beauty in the transparency that comes with this stage of life.

We can talk about anything without the friction of awkwardness or the fear of overstepping. Our conversations drift seamlessly from the clinical realities of a colonoscopy to the heavy, shared grief of losing our fathers.

In that backyard, there were no masks. No bells and whistles required. We only needed food, drink, and the shared history that allowed us to laugh until it hurt.

Back in Macau

My surroundings feel worlds away from the joy I found in Luxembourg.

People often describe the physical toll of long-haul intercontinental flights, but rarely the emotional brutality of being dropped into a different reality in less than 24 hours.

It was just yesterday when I was spending the best of my time laughing with my friends, yet now I’m surrounded by hoards of people bumping into each other in the densely packed streets of Macau in a rainy day.

These are people I cannot connect with. My wife and myself, we are sick and tired of this.

I’m getting old and this world feels far too commercial for my liking – an obsession with everything surrounding money, a materialistic vacuum of status symbols and the latest bling-bling, a culture I have completely disconnected myself from.

Give me back the simplicity of that backyard, the cool drinks and the honest warmth of my friends.

No status symbols, no scripts, just us.

That is where I’m at my best.

Amen.