~STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU~

    So a duck a rabbi and a proctologist walk into a bar……now see, don’t you wish you knew how this turned out? Or even the middle part. So do I. But you know, that is not the point. The point is that the beginning intrigues you so that you desire to know the end. But the meat of the thing is the middle. Some things in life have a definite beginning, life, foot races, lunch and labor pains. And some things have definite endings; books, movies, death and south-ends of north-bound dogs.
   But the middle oh, there is the unknown. The middle can be picked up anywhere. The middle is where you are now, unless of course, you are really close to the end and don’t know it. The middle gives you breathing room. It is the friend that invites you to lunch unexpectedly, and then pays for it! It is the book you picked up at the library just because--- but it turns out to be the best thing you have ever read. The middle is where you say “I am so tired of the same old recipes, and then give yourself a chance to discover new ones, not caring who else may or may not like them.
   The middle is like realizing you’ve been holding your breath for a long, long time and you finally find yourself slowly releasing it and then doing a few more deep breaths for good measure. Your soul can relax in the middle. It is not trying to figure it all out or racing to the finish line. The middle sends you on unexpected walks down tree lined streets. The middle gives you time to stand in the road in awe at the dust motes dancing in the rays of light coming through the trees. And it is the time when you are really learning not to care if anyone may be wondering just what you’re doing standing out there. The middle gives you the courage to even invite them to enjoy it with you. Complete strangers! You could just say to them, ‘how lovely is that!” And even if they begin to slowly edge away, pffft, who cares? That’s just fine.
     No one ever knows where the middle begins to become the end. So many, many people saying; how? When? And, It was only yesterday…..’Do you remember? It was the year the baby had the bad croup.’ That same baby is now seeing his proctologist every year and faking his way through his eye exams.
     This is the middle, people. It is all we’ve got. The middle is this very moment, where I am typing and you may be reading or dreaming or doing your toenails. But it is now. I have to constantly remind myself not to miss it, any of it. Not a moment.
     I spent so many years thinking I just wanted to be 18, and then oh I can’t wait until they are potty trained! Finally ahh, see I have them raised. Yes I do, and now what? Now? Now is the middle! The ridiculous thing is I could have seen it as the middle so many years ago. And it could have been such a big middle too, a grand, wide-open giant of a middle. But I was just way too busy trying to work through the beginning as fast as I could.
     What a shame to believe life is a race. What most people believe is the preparation for the journey…is the journey. Every moment could be a very important middle point to stop and absorb. Mostly we are oblivious, we rarely absorb. How many moments have I missed? Probably thousands and thousands. But no matter because this is the middle, as far as I know. As far as my finite mind can see, I am in the middle of my life and in the middle of the moment.
     So what about the end? What if it is closer than we think? This is the important thing. We must not see the middle as lasting forever. The middle is the perfect time to figure out what God has to say about the end. Because the end is really just the beginning all over again in that ‘undiscovered, never-ending, country”.

Tonya Willman ©2010