Looking Forward

What do you look forward to?  Is it spring? Summer vacation? A solitary cup of coffee on a quiet Sunday morning? Getting away on the weekend? A drink at the end of a long day? Retirement? I spend a lot of time looking forward to something.  And someone recently told me that he envied me for the simple fact that I was able to get away and experience something new.

We must be careful not to confuse joy with relief.  I realize that much of what I look forward to is simply relief, a break from the present, or the conclusion of a unpleasant task.  What joy is there in spending our time waiting for the end to come? Spring will be another year in coming.  You have five days till the weekend.  And all that we have planned for our time off will be everything we have wished for, but then we are back to where we started... waiting for our next event or holiday.  I have had two sons graduate in the last week.  Are they really looking forward to their future, or are they simply glad its over?
When I think back to the few times when I have really looked forward to something because of the joy I knew it would bring, I remember: Monday mornings with my class the first year of teaching; being reunited with my family; Christmas at home; traveling home; giving birth; getting married...  You see a pattern.  It is the people in my life that bring me joy.

So don't envy me for moving and starting fresh, or for what I have done.  And I am sure my sons have the same mixed feelings about their future.  Most of us don't look forward to the unknown.  We miss the people we leave behind when we go out alone.
I wish my boys every success and the opportunity to experience the thrill of venturing out into the unknown, but I also wish that they will always look forward to coming home. And that they find joy rather than simple relief.

Have a great summer!