School where I live in Argyle, Texas started on Monday and my daughter couldn’t wait. She was so excited to start the fifth grade. For days before the first day she’d walk around the house in all of her new clothes. She organized her supplies. The kid even packed her backpack on Saturday morning! All of these were telltale signs that she was excited but the ultimate sign came on Monday morning. As I walked through the living room and up the stairs to get my two-year-old son out of his crib, there she was, fully dressed, cell phone in hand, shining the flashlight in the dark. She was walking down the stairs. She was ready to go. No mom and dad wake up. No struggle. No tears. Just a bright eyed and bushy tailed little girl dressed and ready for school. It was 5:56am.
Man, I can remember those days as a kid. The first day of school was always so full of excitement. The excitement of a new year, new friends, new experiences. Every kid loved the first day. What was there not to love? We always seem to love the new and exciting. That is, until it’s not new and exciting anymore.
My first day of high school was in September of 1998. Heritage was a fairly new high school, in only its third year of existence. I was a kid with the highest expectations of what high school would be. As an eighth grader I played JV football and basketball for my high school but I went attended a middle school so I couldn’t wait to get there as a student. Everything seemed so cool. The school was bigger, my friends were cooler, the girls were prettier. I wanted to be a part of it and the day had finally come. I remember walking into the school and realizing that the hallways seemed to be a lot less crowded than I thought they’d be, but I was still on cloud nine. I went through my first day and then football practice that afternoon. By the time I got home that evening it was time to do homework and then eat dinner. I was so tired but still so happy. I was officially in high school.
As the week progressed, things began to normalize. By the end of the second week, the excitement was gone. Class just became class after I had sat in each one on my schedule. I had worn all of my new clothes and shoes. I’d received my first tardy to a class. High school just became school all over again. There were new experiences to come however, like homecoming, and I quickly set my sites on it. I started to always look for the next exciting thing. Basketball season, Christmas break, spring break, the last day of school. Sophomore year, varsity sports, junior year, ring dance, senior year, prom. Before I knew it, high school was over. I set my sites on college. That four-year high school experience was gone. I had such high expectations. It was going to be so amazing. As I look back however, I see that after that first day, I spent the majority of the time wanting it to be over.
Things work out so weird in life sometimes. You want something so badly for so long but when you finally get it, oftentimes you forget how much it meant to you before you got it. Do you remember when you first met your spouse and being with them was the only thing on your mind? Or how much that promotion meant to you when you were working on achieving it? The car you drive, the place you live, the friends and family you have. These were all once just positive thoughts in your head. Now they are reality...but are you still excited about them?
Look, my point isn’t that it’s bad to want more in life. I’m not saying that life can’t (and shouldn’t) be filled with new and exciting things and experiences. What I’m saying is that we shouldn’t take what we have for granted because at one point we dreamed about some of the things we have or have experienced but dismiss now. What’s the point of getting something if you don’t take a moment to enjoy it? What’s the point of chasing your dreams if your only prize is the pursuit of the next dream? What’s the point of looking forward to high school if you spend the entire time rushing to get to college?
It’s normal to do these things. But who wants to be normal? What joy are you missing by forgetting the excitement from your past? Who’s contribution are you minimizing by not appreciating what their place in your life once meant to you? Take a step back and ask yourself, what am I taking for granted?
By Thursday morning my daughter started to hit a wall. As the excitement wears off, school will soon become school again and fifth grade will just be something she’s rushing to get through on her way to middle school. The dad in me will want to tell her to slow down and enjoy her last year of elementary school...to take pride in being at the top of the totem pole. But she won’t listen. I wouldn’t have listened at that age. I just wanted to experience the next exciting thing...I guess I’ll wait until she gets to high school.
