So, I figured after several posts of quotes from my professors and quizzes about where I have been running, it is time for me to post something more substantive. Yesterday, my roommate sent me the following e-mail regarding graduation and my family coming to town: "It's coming up! You excited????????" My gut reaction was, "No, not really." I wrote back something a bit more upbeat, but the bottom line is--life is busy, and there isn't a whole lot of time to enjoy the exciting things that are happening. It's tough to be excited about graduation when you have two finals left and pre-BARBRI classes looming with bar classes starting the very day after graduation. It doesn't really sound that exciting when you have so much to get done. Most days, I'd rather have a day to sit at home and watch Law & Order instead of going to hear someone from the highest court of Britain speak at a ceremony, but hey, my family isn't flying to Washington, D.C. to watch Law & Order with me, so we're going to graduation; I'm wearing the gown; and we'll take lots of pictures. Yay...
Ironically, in the midst of all these "exciting" and unquestionably busy things happening in my life, I feel a little hole. My mailbox seems to be stuffed and my refrigerator is peppered with wedding announcements. Not just the invitations that you and every other single Mormon living in the 2-mile radius received, but real wedding invitations for friends whose receptions I might actually attend if I didn't live on the East Coast and didn't have to study for the bar exam this summer. (And on that note, I am actually attending some of these weddings... bought a ticket and everything.) It's the first time that a large number of the friends who have significantly shaped my life are all getting married AT THE SAME TIME. And I'm here having this conversation with my grandma: "Grandma--So are there any young men in your life? Me--No, not really." (This is not entirely accurate, but last time my grandma heard I went on a first date with someone who had met President Obama, she asked my mom if President Obama would be at my wedding. I'm operating on the less is more theory when it comes to discussing my love life with her.)
Then last night I spent a few hours away from studying, and I was pondering the life-changing blessings that have come into my life in the past year. Particularly things I had wanted for several years and suddenly they were mine and the experiences were beautiful. I realized that spreading out the exciting and wonderful events of life can help me appreciate and enjoy them more. If my wedding invitation were up on the fridge along with all the others, and along with my graduation announcement; and if my own wedding invitation were in my mailbox with my benefits package and my relocation materials and everything else I have to take care of to start my new job and move to a new city, I don't think I'd enjoy it as much as I hope to later on. Perhaps this post is lacking in eloquence, but I have been reading the U.S. Tax Code all week... The bottom line is, it can be really nice to pause and enjoy the present and the recent past. So much of life is timing and taking the time to enjoy what you already have.
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