My good friends Hans and Dorothy are visiting from Australia for the week and I had the good fortune to drive Hans to Great Falls National Park today. On our way we drove on a highway that used to be fairly small as it wound its way through various little suburbs. Like everything else in Northern Virginia, that little highway has been growing and expanding over the past few years, and in that process a lot of its stoplights are being replaced with overpasses. We stopped at one of those stoplights and Hans said, “Isn’t it great to see bridges being built? They’re the most exciting part of engineering.”

    I smiled at his wonderment of the world; a man who has literally traveled all around the globe, and even a simple overpass makes him happy. But then I started to think about the overpass they just finished near my house. When they first started building it, it felt like it would take forever. As I would sit in traffic, staring at the construction equipment and the men in their bright orange hats, it seemed like completion was so far off in the future. And yet, now that the overpass is done, it’s as if it was finished overnight. I blinked and it was done. What once seemed like an eternity has passed and I’m on the other side looking back, wondering why it went by so quickly.

    I looked at the bright orange hats and the equipment as I sat there with Hans, realizing that a bridge will be built in no time at all, and I contemplated where I will be in life when that bridge is completed. When I look back with that sense of awe that it all went by in a blink of an eye, what will my life be like? It’s only a matter of months, but as I have learned most clearly since July, so much can change in that short period of time. Everything at the beginning seems like an eternity when so much of your journey lies ahead. It is only with hindsight that you realize how fast life can speed past you. I feel fortunate to have a small glimpse of that speed now, so that over the coming months I can have a greater appreciation for the here and now.

    That said, I owe you all one heck of a recap blog entry about the past two trips to Utah and Los Angeles. I’ve still trying to sort through the photos from the Emmy after party and my various adventures in Hollywood. But as for right now, I’m going to visit with Hans and Dorothy, so this entry will have to suffice for now. Later I will have lots to share with you, including photos of Johnny Depp and lots of stories about how Oliver Platt gives me the heebie jeebies. 🙂 Thanks for being patient.