The calendar I use -- yes, a paper calendar still -- numbers the days. In the upper right hand corner of each block I see both the number of the current day as well as the number of days left in the year.
Over the weekend those two numbers came close to matching each other. Saturday was #182 with 183 days to go; yesterday was #183 with 182 to go. Too bad 2017 has an odd number of days ... Somewhere, though, between Saturday and Sunday there must have been a moment of absolute in-between, where the year hung in a split second of balance.
Why does that interest me so? A half empty vs half full thing, maybe? Thinking back, I have always -- like when on a trip -- reassured myself that there was still time left, an "it's not over yet" outlook. I do enjoy the thought of closer to the beginning than to the end.
On the other hand, there are activities that inspire in me a bit of gladness that the conclusion is nearer than the beginning. I'm thinking house cleaning. On those occasions I sometimes hear in my head the line Tal used to offer: "Well, it's not as long (or as far) as it has been," a favorite on an overly optomistic day's driving.
Today is the first Monday in the second half of the year. There's plenty of year left. What I think I realize, as I consider the passage of time and our calendar milestone, is that more important than where we are on the beginning-to-end continuum is my attitude, my outlook. There's a lot more in the balance than the number of days so far and the number left.
We may have reached the peak and are beginning the descent. There's nothing to do about that. What's happened so far has lessons to teach. And, it might be all downhill from here. But, what lies before is nevertheless a beginning. What could be better than that?
Over the weekend those two numbers came close to matching each other. Saturday was #182 with 183 days to go; yesterday was #183 with 182 to go. Too bad 2017 has an odd number of days ... Somewhere, though, between Saturday and Sunday there must have been a moment of absolute in-between, where the year hung in a split second of balance.
Why does that interest me so? A half empty vs half full thing, maybe? Thinking back, I have always -- like when on a trip -- reassured myself that there was still time left, an "it's not over yet" outlook. I do enjoy the thought of closer to the beginning than to the end.
On the other hand, there are activities that inspire in me a bit of gladness that the conclusion is nearer than the beginning. I'm thinking house cleaning. On those occasions I sometimes hear in my head the line Tal used to offer: "Well, it's not as long (or as far) as it has been," a favorite on an overly optomistic day's driving.
Today is the first Monday in the second half of the year. There's plenty of year left. What I think I realize, as I consider the passage of time and our calendar milestone, is that more important than where we are on the beginning-to-end continuum is my attitude, my outlook. There's a lot more in the balance than the number of days so far and the number left.
We may have reached the peak and are beginning the descent. There's nothing to do about that. What's happened so far has lessons to teach. And, it might be all downhill from here. But, what lies before is nevertheless a beginning. What could be better than that?
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