Anticipation & New Year Thoughts

While in California, we picked up a Magnolia magazine by Joanna Gaines at a local Sprouts. It was the holiday issue and it was pretty heartwarming. The magazine is organized around the theme of anticipation. For the most part, it focuses on anticipation associated with the holidays, but there are some articles about anticipation in general.

This magazine really spoke to me because anticipation is not my forté. I love having something to look forward to but waiting drives me a little nuts. I have the tendency to wish time away when I'm looking forward to something. For instance, in anticipating going to California, I lost sight of all the fun that happened before our trip because I just want to go so bad! It kind of feels like I rushed through Christmas because I was anticipating December 27th and as a result, the holiday break seems like a great big blur!

I read this magazine on the plane home and it had me wishing I had read it 5 years ago! I really needed these words! There is one little poem in particular that really resonated with me...

Anticipation is turning on the radio and hearing there's a chance of snow.
Or better yet, a chance of a snow day.
It's that feeling in your hands as you unwrap a gift from someone who knows you really well.  
And, it's the thrilling calm that comes over you just after you think of the perfect gifts for someone you adore: already picturing how their eyes might light up when they see them.  
It's a stirring, expectant feeling that can show up beckoned by the simplest things.
It's testing the icing as an act of patience while the cinnamon rolls slowly bake in the oven.
It's the already warming scent of kindling in the fireplace just before it bursts into a glow.
Anticipation is the feeling of hopeful expectation.
Believing in the magic of what has been and what might come again.
This is what we know to be true.
 There is wonder in the waiting. 
[Gaines, J. (2018, November). The Magnolia Journal, 3 (4), pp 57.]

This poem was so important for me to read. And, even thought I wish I had read it years ago, I'm glad I read it now; to kick off 2019. Last year, I blogged about my new year's intentions last year (I set intentions instead of resolutions). I like to have a word to work towards during the year. I already had an intention percolating but this poem really tuned my idea into something more concrete My intention this year is to find the wonder in waiting. To live in the right now even though I'm looking forward to something fun. As I'm going into the last semester of my Bachelor's degree I want to soak it all up instead of just focusing on graduation. I am excited to graduate, but I'm going to challenge myself to enjoy classes with my friends and student teaching for the last time. I want to relish in learning new things, meeting new people and teaching new kids.

Happy 2019, friends! I hope you all find a little wonder in waiting this year!