There is no arriving, just becoming

Quote of the day: “‘ ‘Patience isn’t your virtue, is it, dear?’ she says, filling the quiet moment between us. ‘You mustn’t fret. There is no arriving, ever. It is all a continual becoming.’ ” ~ Joan Anderson  A Year by the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman

Continual becoming

In my reading yesterday, I found a passage that could have been written about me–“Patience isn’t your virtue, is it, dear?”  Oh how my husband would laugh to read this. It so epitomizes me.  He once gave me a notepad that had a picture of two vultures talking to one another. The caption on the notepad read, “Patience my ass, I’m going out and kill something!”  Don’t laugh! It was a totally appropriate gift for that time in my life (still very appropriate).

I would like to be patient.  I work on developing patience, but truth be told, I will never be a patient person in this lifetime. That’s how I’m wired. As I get older I like to think that I am able to exercise patience sometimes. But patience is not and never will be one of my virtues.  It is one of many imperfections that make me who I am. And as my husband likes to say, “As you get older, you are who you are, only more-so.”

As I reflect on people and their idiosyncrasies, I think that it is often their imperfections that make my friends interesting and unique. Think about what a boring world it would be if everyone were perfect!

When we were first married, we spent a lot of time at my mother-in-law’s cabin on the weekends.  She had a wide group of friends and each of them was a character–Vera with her gravelly voice and tell-it-like-it-is bluntness, George with his blustering and never-ending stories, Faye with her legendary impatience and short fuse, Marge with her boozy “Hellooooo’s” and many others–unforgettable imperfect, wonderful, continually becoming people.

Think about the character, Barney, on the sitcom “How I met your mother.”  He is FULL of imperfection. Yet he’s funny and interesting and human (and over the top, I know).  Aren’t the most alive people you know, living fully out loud, imperfections and all?

May all of us appreciate our whole selves, warts and all, and learn to live in continual becoming.

Bear of many colors

Is your cup half empty or half full?

How colorful is your life?