In Between

This is going to be a little different.

Normally these posts are updates on the milestones in our lives.  I got a new job, we got a new house, she had a birthday, a promotion, a vacation, some inspired self-realization I'm compelled to share with everyone.

Not this time.

This time I'm celebrating.

This semester is nearly over and there is no respite in view.  This summer is going to only make life busier.  B. is taking more courses immediately after this semester ends, further shortening her summer.  She's desperately trying to master organic chemistry, statistics, genetics, calculus, anatomy, and countless other classes I can't even begin to fathom, all while working full-time in a high-pressure job.

Deadline has been the name of the game for me.  Lately I've averaged four or five hours of sleep a night as I scramble to illustrate books and projects before their impending deadlines, finalize the manuscript for my own children's book so I can move on to those illustrations and get published before that impending deadline.  I'm looking for more freelance work hoping that on the off chance someone does hire me I can find the time somewhere between deadlines.  Meanwhile, I just finished a major revision of my website, portfolio and resume and filled out nearly a dozen job applications for graphic design positions within biking distance throughout the area.

There's been a lot of buildup to impending milestones, but none of them have happened yet.  And when they do, I'm never that impressed.  My mind is usually focused on the next task.

But what has gotten B. and me through this insanity hasn't been the milestones or the promise of a check-mark on our cosmic to-do list - it's been the in-betweeners.

The little moments in between deadlines.  Between shifts at work.  Between filing applications and filing rejections.  Between paychecks.  The little gasps for air before we plunge back down into the abyss.

Sometimes we run.  B. and I go running at least three times a week, even if only for a mile at 11 at night.  We talk, we walk, we hold hands, we reacquaint ourselves with that button nose normally wedged in a book or those eyes normally glazed over staring at a screen.  We wade through the dead air, the dull mute of homework and listen to the silence instead.  It doesn't make us work better.  Homework isn't done any quicker.  The deadlines are still there, looming.  But I relish our in-betweeners.  So does she.  It has made a distinct difference in our moods and our marriage.

Oh, and sometimes we just make out.

The man with the five dollar face once said:

"We can complain that rose bushes have thorns 

or rejoice that thorn bushes have roses."

Stop reaching for the next slab of milestone.  Celebrate what's in between.


S