Day 135 Heinz Ketchup

April 22, 2015

 (This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

"If you come at four in the afternoon, I'll begin to be happy by three." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Waiting may be a lost art in today’s culture. Years ago, we had rotary dial telephones and numbers with zeroes seemed to take forever. Dinner took a while to cook in a gas oven then; now we have microwaves and fast food restaurants. I remember waiting for snail mail letters from penpals and boyfriends. The wait was so sweet. Now we have e-mail and instant messaging. We used to have to go physically to the library to research information that took hours—even days. Now we have Google. I read that over three billion Google searches are processed in a day, answering 34,000 questions per second. One in four people abandon a Web page that takes more than four seconds to load. Even dating can be rushed. Millions of people look for a partner in 3-to-8 minute speed dating sessions. 

Some people may remember the classic Heinz ketchup TV ad. Two little boys are sitting at a kitchen table. One little boy says, “Your ketchup is slow.” The other says, “Doesn’t your mama buy Heinz?” The first boy answers, “No. Why should she?” Then we hear the song, “Anticipation,” and watch a close-up of the thick, mouth-watering red ketchup slowly pouring out. The first impatient little boy, after tasting it, then asks, “Can I stay over tomorrow night too?”  An announcer finishes, assuring us that it is worth the wait.

For the past several days, I have embraced anticipation. Last year we bought a redbud tree after admiring the early-blooming purple buds all around us. Everywhere else today, these trees are blooming but our little tree is a late-bloomer. Every day, I closely examine the tiny buds and try to guess when they will fully open. This anticipation is delicious. In fact, sometimes the anticipation is the best part.

“Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.” ~ A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

My gift today is anticipation.

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> Day 136 Penises and Cupcakes

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

Day 49 - Drips

January 27, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

This morning I held my breath, trying to anticipate the exact split second that the icicle would release its next drop. Sometimes my mind was synchronized with the next drip; other times I completely missed.  The important thing, however, was the excitement of anticipation. And the process of being very much in the moment.

As long as we don’t interfere with the timing, we are playing by the rules. Children often do not get this. Anticipation drives impatience and they don’t follow the “rules” until they learn the joy of waiting. I remember my father talking about when he was a young child and had figured out there was no Santa Claus but he had discovered his mother’s secret hiding place for Christmas gifts. It was in one of her dresser drawers, which she kept locked. My father being a curious but very smart kid had figured out that it might be possible to remove the drawer above the locked one and to peek into the locked drawer. As it turned out, the configuration of his mother’s dresser was such that this was possible. And one year, he saw all his Christmas presents before Christmas. He said he only did this once.

I suspect that he had learned the joy of anticipation, how we Velcro each moment to our imagination box and then build and create stories.  It is good to change speed to slow motion like the drips forming on an icicle for it is during time’s foreplay that we savor what is to come. And this is good.

Today’s gift was anticipation.

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> DAY 50 Shifting

You can read my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html