In a few weeks I’ll be traveling to the Hudson Valley to attend the wedding of some new friends.  It’s a place I’ve never been, in a part of the country I’ve always wanted to see.  I am very much looking forward to it.

Anticipation is a wonderful gift.  For a long time, I was afraid to look forward to anything.  Disappointment was an emotion I avoided at all costs.  I prided myself on managing my expectations in a way that I was rarely disappointed.  But I’ve found, that while I was never disappointed, I was also, never excited about anything.  And that was definitely not how I wanted to live my life.

Hope is a fragile thing.  And it is a double edged sword.  Too much, and you lose touch with reality.  Too little, and you risk despair and that, is never a good thing.

As usual, finding balance is the key.  Also as usual, it’s much harder in practice than in theory.  Still, its pursuit is worth the effort.

As Takashi Matsuoka so beautifully wrote in Cloud of Sparrows, “It is not purity, but the nature of the balance that displays our true character.”  Well said.