Living in the “In Between”

Image: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

We are in an in-between time.

It’s summer. Anna is between grades. She is also between schools, which wasn’t something we planned—we hoped to give her some of the stability I lacked in bouncing from school to school—but we felt like we had no choice.

I’m between books. Deciding the next one to read—which will take a day or two—and the next one to write—which may take a little longer.

Julia’s in a in-between place at work too. She’s taking on new responsibilities while still handling old ones. At some point, we hope these new responsibilities will evolve into a new and better paying position. But for now she’s in between too.

Everyone in some way is in between. In between past and future. In between an old life and a new life. In between the mistakes we learn from and the plans we make  to do better next time.

It’s easy to look back with nostalgia or regret, or ahead with anxiety or excitement. It’s tempting to dwell in the past or daydream about the future.

It’s harder to live in the present. To be present to the in between.

But that’s where we are and it’s the only place where our choices and our actions matter.

Here.

Now.

Living in the “In Between.”