Anticipation...

When I was a kid I remember getting all excited about some of those box top offers on the back of cereal boxes. You know, the ones where if you send in the correct number of box tops plus $1.95 for shipping and handling, the cereal company will send you a special decoder ring or Spiderman watch for free. And let me tell you there was at least one decoder ring and one watch that I absolutely had to have. So I followed the cereal box instructions and sent in my request. My 10 year old brain also noted that it would take anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks to process and send my special decoder ring. That's an eternity for a 10 year old!!

I remember wondering after I mailed my request how I was ever going to survive the excitement and anticipation waiting 4 to 6 weeks for my decoder ring! At least once every day, I would excitedly think about getting that decoder ring. Once 3 weeks had elapsed, I began checking the mailbox just in case it came early. I was an optimist even then! Everyday I would wake up excited thinking that this is the day that my ring comes. My hopes would be momentarily dashed once I checked the mail and it hadn't come. It was momentary though because I knew that tomorrow meant a new possibility. Of course the decoder ring didn't arrive until a smidge past the 6 week mark like those things usually do. And to tell you the truth, today I can't really tell you anything about the decoder ring or Spiderman watch that I just had to have. But the thing that sticks with me to this day is that wonderful feeling of anticipation. The excitement and hopefulness of something coming along the horizon.

We're usually so pragmatic with our thinking and so most of us, I think, probably associate anticipation as simply a means to an end. Like a rainbow as simply a means of pointing the way to the pot of gold. So this got me to thinking. Can't that wonderful feeling of anticipation just be an end in and of itself? Isn't the rainbow wonderful on its own without the pot of gold at the end?

That decoder ring and watch wound up being nothing special, but I do remember that wonderful feeling of looking forward to something. And in retrospect, the less than stellar result didn't really ruin the feeling of anticipation in the long run. I remember the excitement of anticipation more than I remember being disappointed by the actual product. So anticipation can be good all by itself whether the result winds up being as good or not...like my decoder ring.

And quite often, anticipation adds to the thrill of a good result kinda like being excited about an upcoming trip. Half the fun is just being excited about the trip in advance. If the journey turned out to be as great as you anticipated then the anticipation added to your enjoyment and overall experience.

I also think that people that really relish taking their time opening gifts have this anticipation idea down pat. You know the folks I'm talking about, it takes them forever to open a gift because they like to look at the gift box from all angles....they like to take the time to maybe guess the contents...and most of all they like just looking at the package for a bit because they somehow recognize that before that box is opened it holds almost limitless possibilities and so they realize in those moments the maximum amount of anticipation. I think for those people the anticipation is a greater gift than the actual gift. Although they may love the gift inside, the anticipation was just as wonderful a gift for them. And even if the gift wasn't so great, they appreciate and love the gift of anticipation so much that it doesn't matter. I like this attitude.

In the past, I was always so anxious to tear into my gifts to get at the prize inside, but upon further reflection I think I may have been missing out on the wonderful nuances of anticipation. That anticipation can be a gift in and of itself much like a rainbow.