I love deadlines. I love countdowns. Any kind really: school years, pregnancies, birthdays, holidays…anything. And here we are at the 77 day mark of residency. 77 days to go! 77-a number of completion, biblically speaking. In some ways it’s hard to believe. In many other ways it seems like it’s taken us a lifetime to get here! And as excited as I am about being so close to done, I have such mixed emotions. I will miss the friends we have made in Augusta. I’ll miss my cozy little home. I’ll miss Village Deli and Pizza Joint. I’ll miss having a Target just minutes from my house. But after being back in my hometown for a few days, I’m really having a hard time staying in the moment. Enjoying life as I live it. Smelling the roses and all that. I wish that I could move NOW. I wish that Marshall could be done NOW. I wish that we could go ahead and get everything settled and ready NOW. But as I think about this, I am reminded of something I read from one A.A. Milne’s Winne-the-Pooh books:
“Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best,” and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you begin to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.
So I know I need to enjoy this moment just before. I know I need to savor it. I know I need to sit back and wait patiently. But I don’t know how.
While I was searching online to find that Milne quote, I found a few more that were inspirational to me, and I thought I’d share. But please feel free to add your own thoughts and ideas on how to better savor the flavor of today…
From Robert Brault: Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
From Guilaume Apollinaire: Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.
Savor the moments with your girls too! Before you know it they will be all grown up. It seems like kids grow faster when you move away!