PREPARATION

1: the action or process of making something ready for use or service or of getting ready for some occasion, test, or duty
2: a state of being prepared : readiness

My back counter in the kitchen is loaded with food right how. A box sits in the center, holding items that are neatly stacked inside. But tidiness ends there as other items are stacked on top of the orderly ones, spilling over the sides, and filling the entire space. We leave for a week at the beach tomorrow and I will be so glad to get there, if only to be done with the preparation.

Once upon a time, the preparation was nearly as much fun for me as the trip itself. I loved the organizing, the planning, the execution, the completion. But I'm much more about the process now than the product, and the preparation just feels like something I must do to get to the good stuff - laying on the beach, feeling the salt on my skin as the water dries it, the smell of the salt in the air.

It also feels like preparation is keeping me from the good stuff - writing, reading, relaxing. I wanted to sleep in on the first day of summer vacation instead of getting up at 6 AM, knowing what awaited me.

But this is part of the tension of life - the need to prepare balanced with the need to experience. I hope all of my preparation today and this week will pay off by allowing me to fully, joyfully experience our time at the beach.