Things to Come
Does anyone remember the Carly Simon song, “Anticipation?”
It was 1971: “We can never know about the days to come. But we think about them anyway.” Later, Heinz Ketchup used it in a commercial about good things (red ketchup) flowing for those who wait.
I was looking at my backyard the other day, when Michigan temperatures teased into the upper 40s, and I was thinking that I needed to get out there and clean things up. Mind you, this was late February.
Later, I was reading a nature website, and this phrase popped out: “A messy yard is a thriving ecosystem,” reminding me that there was more to see than dead stalks, leaves, and vines. It was actually a natural habitat for some of nature's smallest yet important creatures. These invertebrates – spiders, collections of pedes, and so on - winter over, till the earth, settle in to hatch, and sweeten our plants and soil in so many ways.
And, yes, after all, it was still nearly a month until spring. If it’s not broke…Yet, the urge to get out and do something, to hasten my green and growing yard, was powerful.
In fact, studies show that the waiting is all. According to Business Insider’s Libby Kane, “This finding comes from post-doctoral scholar Matthew A. Killingsworth of the University of California, Berkeley, and UC San Francisco, and doctoral student Amit Kumar and psychology researcher Thomas Gilovich, both of Cornell University.”
They found that “anticipating an experience…brought more happiness.” In this case, it was about ordering something and waiting for the brown package, but their finding also covers waiting for events as well. When looking forward to a holiday, birthday, or other joyous occasion, we have more room to dream, imagine, plan, and look forward, rather than do it and then ask, “Is that all there is?”
Of course, I am talking here about pleasant anticipation. It would take another column to address the kind of waiting that comes with test scores, deadlines, and exams. In those cases, I would quote Shakespeare: “I am to waite, though waiting so be hell.”
Back to the fun – and I think of the late Tom Petty, counseling, “The waiting is the hardest part. Every day you get one more yard. You take it on faith, you take it to the heart. The waiting is the hardest part.” I would add it is also a good thing to recognize what is worth the wait or what needs to be done. And yes, that is another column.
Joanne Williams is Associate Professor of Media Production and Communication at the University of Olivet.