10...9...8...7...6...
The countdown to the new year was almost over. I awaited the much anticipated new year while standing out on our condo's porch, watching both the fireworks on the beach and the Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year countdown. I was ready to see the ball drop. I stood next to my wonderful wife as we waited for the new year together. This was it. The big moment was coming. Every year that Brianna and I have been together I have insisted we stay up together to watch the ball drop. Every new year she gets tired and only stays up because of my insistence. This moment has always been so big and exciting for me.
5...4...3...
Just then the screen went black. The room got quiet. A little text box lit up the screen. No Signal. We lost signal two seconds before midnight.
12:00AM
There were no fireworks, screams of excitement, or a ball dropping. It was just Brianna and myself holding hands outside on the porch in the Sunshine State. It is funny how much we can get caught up in a little moment when in actuality it is not those moments that matter most. It is what we do with the moments that matter.
So often we can get caught up in that one moment watching that one event happen that we forget about all the time anticipating it. We can forget about what is to follow it. When we only focus on that particular moment we can even forget about who we are with. I have consistently neglected my wife's need for sleep in order to watch a silly ball drop. The New Year will happen whether or not I watch a ball drop or see fireworks. What mattered most that evening is not even those events. What mattered most is who I was with. What matters is who we spend our lives with, what we do with our lives, and how we will live our lives in that new year.
So here's to reflecting on the past year, anticipating and planning for the coming days in this new year, and to stop focusing too much on those little moments that are gone in an instant. It matters who we are after the moment not just in the moment.
