About Time

This week I learned, and I mean really learned, a difficult life lesson. It's been two years in the making, but Thursday afternoon I finally decided to pull my head out of the sand and get with the program.
Sometimes you hear people say things like "If you want something bad enough, it will come true" or "You just have to will it into existence; make it happen." That may or may not be true when talking about landing the perfect job, finding the perfect cocktail dress, smoothing those pesky fly-aways, or learning all the pertinent information for a final exam. Perhaps it is possible to will inanimate objects into producing the outcome you desire; that's a personal opinion, I guess. However, in my life experience, I have found it to be factual that, when it comes to human beings and their emotions, those generalizations simply don't hold up. There's too many unknowns, too many rogue factors, and often far too much at stake.
Those are all the notions that became crystal clear to me Thursday afternoon, as I drove back to Starkville from Columbus. I realized that, no matter how much I want something to happen, it's not within my control to make the equation work to my advantage, for I only hold half the variables; I'm only playing with half the deck. I know this sounds like an elementary concept, and some of you may be saying, "So what? Where's the rocket science in that discovery?" and you would be exactly right. This wasn't a groundbreaking discovery for the world at large, but it was exactly what I needed to be able to put a painful, maddening situation to rest once and for all.
I woke up Friday morning (er... afternoon) with a whole new attitude and an outlook I hadn't experienced in quite a while; it was fabulous. I had finally come to terms with the fact that I can't resent another person because I want him/her to be something that is just not possible for him/her to fulfill. And, more than that, this transcends this particular situation and creates a new insight into so many situations and relationships in my life. It's been quite the philosophical weekend, I assure you.
I know some of you may be wondering just what in the world all of this is about, but the specifics really aren't important. I'll just leave it at this: it is, as you've probably guessed, of course about a boy; I mean, let's be honest, ladies, when is it not?
Positively 2009, good to see you again, friend.