Be a Maverick, remember to live in the moment

It was as I was driving home from seeing the new Top Gun film (pretty good by the way, though I’m sure Tom Cruise must be a vampire or sold his soul to a Hollywood plastic surgeon or something because there is no way he is going on 60 and still looks like that) on Sunday that I noticed that everything was so… green. Trees, grass, that annoying shrub that you hate but haven’t had the time or energy to get rid of it yet, you name it, and it’s springing to life. Or, more accurately, it has sprung to life.

I’m not sure when this happened, but it seems to me that it has been like this for a good while now. Looking back at our previous issues’ pictures, it’s been at least two weeks since the greenery has taken over. After what seemed like forever, winter had finally given over the reins to summer.

And apparently I missed it. Which, as I scanned over the fields and forests on my drive back up Highway 13 from Marshfield, was slightly disconcerting. How had such a drastic change in scenery escaped my notice for so long? Especially as someone who does not harbor much love for the cold chill of winter, and even less for the dreary sludge that dares masquerade as spring in Wisconsin, usually return of foliage to the area is something of a tiny celebration for myself. A sign heralding warmer days ahead. And yet, the signs had come and gone without even crossing my mind once.

The reason why? I can’t say for certain. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that I’m still adjusting to my new surroundings, still figuring out things, still wondering and worrying if I’m doing a good job or if I’m letting people down. There’s been a lot to process over the last month or so, and I feel like it’s understandable that I missed the evolution from winter to summer.

And yet, I found myself wondering this very same thing last year. At the time, I was very much established in my routine, and, as such, should have had ample brain processing power to take a second to recognize the changing of the seasons. But it had slipped by me just the same.

Life is busy. There are so many things that ask for even a small piece of my attention. Even when I am moving along to my regularly scheduled program, it’s hard not to get lost in all the work that needs to be done, the things that need to be planned, the texts that I should probably answer sooner rather than later (who invented read receipts anyways?). Even my Netflix is a daunting checklist of things I want to watch. But I have to often remind myself, like I did Sunday, that I need to also live in the moment. It’s been said before and it’ll be said again, if one spends all of their time planning their life, they’ll never actually live it. Sometimes, you just need to take a break from working on the neverending to-do lists and maybe actually enjoy something on them. The lists will still be there, oh will they still be there, when you get back.

I had been planning on working on this column when I got home from the movie Sunday night, a whole different idea in my head that I’ll probably use at a later date, but instead of sitting myself in front of my computer and pulling up a new Google Doc, I wandered around outside. Not for long, maybe a half hour, without a single idea for a future article or the logistics of the wedding I’m going to attend in two weeks running through my head. Just enjoying the arrival of summer, reveling in the warm breeze and the smell of lilacs in the air. Spending some time chitchatting about the movie with my parents, discussing the exciting final sequence and how Tom Cruise doesn’t look a day over 40. Things that I hadn’t planned on doing, but things I definitely needed to do.

I still started writing this column later that night, because the neverending lists still need to be attended to. And yeah, maybe I didn’t catch an extra episode of Moon Knight because of it. But Oscar Isaac will still be there tomorrow, and this column still got done on time.

Summer only comes once a year. It’ll be gone before you know it. And it’s not just the seasons; there’s so many things in life that are “for a limited time only.” So take advantage. Don’t just plan a life, live one. And if you figure out Tom’s secret anti-aging formula or if he really is an immortal creature of the night, I’d really appreciate it if you let me know, because clearly the question is taking up too much of my mind.

A C ERTAIN POINT OF V IEW

NATHANIEL U NDERWOOD REPORTER