Betwixt and Between: On Commuting

There is a distinct difference in being where you are and being where you want to be.  This moving from point A to B is filled with axioms about "enjoying the journey," or "mind the gap".  Most often, this space in between notion is applied to larger life positions; the time between hiring and promotion, the time between knowing and not knowing, the time between your beginning and the ending.

And in between lots of life happens, but we are lost in the anxiety, the waiting, and absorbed in the "I'm not there yet," feeling.

I was on my way to a meeting.  A very important meeting, one where I felt unqualified to be there, but was invited all the same.  So, I put on my most professional duds and skipped out of my afternoon class to be there.  In between the meeting and school, in between the professional calling and my student existence; there was me, my car, a mapquest map, and my constant companion, my travel mug filled with caffeine-filled fuel.  And wouldn't you know, two of my companions betrayed me, my map was wrong and my travel mug leaked onto my lap.  I was now certain that my professional image I was trying for was completely tarnished.  And further ruined, I was now quite late in my lostness.

Transitional times are not an unfamiliar phenomenon to those in emerging adulthood (read: ages 18-30, roughly), our lives are quite littered with them.  Most of life seems as if we are waiting for something better, something bigger, something other than this anxious waiting.  As I think about the transitions in my life, I know that they are not wasted time.  When I am mindful of the transitions, I can see the purpose and preparation in the time spent not being there yet.

In my urban life, commuting has been my daily transitional time.  And my realization and reminder that in even in the time in between, is still important time.