The process

While I count down the days until my program is over (literally: 84 left), I am also focusing on all I have to look forward to this fall; and if I've learned anything over the last four years of a seemingly constant flux of job changes, moves, and unpredictability it is how to enjoy life exactly where you are. Yes, I am counting the days, but I'm also loving the day to day of living here in the place I love with Chris.

This fall we have football games almost every weekend, a family wedding, bible studies, birthdays, visits with friends, and eventually the start of the college basketball season to keep us entertained. It is very easy for me to fast-forward in my head to the new year where I will no longer be juggling so many different calendars (school, work, clinical, personal), but I keep reminding myself to focus on now and enjoy everything happening in our lives in the meantime.

Back when our lives were more predictable (a time I think we will soon be coming to again), I often considered things like a "5 year plan" or a "10 year plan." In fact, when I interviewed for my current job, one of the questions they asked me was where did I see myself in 5 years. I was able to answer in a career-sense, but at that time we were still living in Farmville and I could hardly predict where we were going to be in a couple months, let alone 5 years. In that more predictable time it was very easy for me to live in the mindset of "As soon as we get married, we'll..." and "Right after we finish _____, we'll..." (insert whatever you are waiting to accomplish in the blank). It's not that I wasn't living in the present, it's just that I was much more focused on the future than on the day-to-day.

We have had so much fun these last few years and as we enter into a season more akin to the first months of our marriage than the last few years, I'm going to do my best to remind myself that life is not about accomplishing the goal, it's about enjoying and living the process it takes to get you there. And I'm going to start with these next 84 days. It's going to be great to finish school, but I don't want to lose sight of what wonderful plans we have this fall before that happens.