One day you’re sitting in math class on a Tuesday afternoon, thinking about how all you want is for it to be Friday. You sit there thinking to yourself, “as soon as it’s Friday, I’ll be happy.” But then Friday comes and goes, Saturday does too and before you know it, it’s Sunday night and you’re back right where you started, hoping for Friday.
Hoping for Friday turns to hoping for summer. Hoping for summer turns to hoping for graduation. Hoping for graduation turns to hoping for college move-in day. Then dreams of winter break float around, until it’s all back to the beginning, hoping for summer.
Day after day, month after month, year after year, there we are. Always hoping for something better. Thinking that if we get that one thing we want or that one exciting day comes, then we will be happy and everything will be okay. But maybe that’s not true. If we spend our entire days wishing for a different day to come, then eventually we’ll be out of days to wish for.
Life is filled with moments. Some of them are planned like graduations, dances, weddings, and even funerals. And some of them are not. For example, watching the sunset with your favorite person and breathing in the sweet summer air, or laughing so hard you feel like you’re going to burst at some stupid joke that no one else would find funny. Sometimes those unplanned moments are the best. They happen secretly and quietly, and then, before we even realize they’re happening, they move along. Like whispers in the wind, leaving us with only the memories to look back on.
Moments. They come and go. That’s all life is really, just a long list of moments strung together in some type of order that add up to create a life.
It is important to cherish those small moments and spend a little extra time on them. Of course life’s big moments are important too, but that’s not all there is. Without the small moments, there would be no big moments. I hope that this year is filled with moments for everyone, big and small; and I hope those moments are taken notice of, not taken advantage of. I hope we all spend a little less time wishing and a little more time living.
