I don’t know if you’re old enough to remember the Heinz ketchup commercial from 1977, but it’s a classic that is lodged in my mind. It incorporated the lyrics from Carly Simon’s song, Anticipation, and it included two boys who were best friends and one was spending the night at his friend’s house on a night they were having hamburgers for dinner. As the first kid pours ketchup on his burger, it takes a bit longer than the second kid thinks it should. The first kid says something along the lines of, your mom doesn’t buy you Heinz? and assures his friend he’ll understand once he tastes the ketchup. As the second kid pours the ketchup on his burger, Simon’s voice sings in the background: Anticipation is making me wait. Once the boy bites into his burger, he asks his friend, Can I stay over tomorrow night, too?”
The tagline was, It’s worth the wait.
And, yet, we all know that anticipating something fun and exciting can be equally as excruciating as it is worth the wait. Still, I love watching that sense of anticipation in our girls, even now, as teenagers, that slow burn of looking forward to something brings me a deep sense of joy…of anticipation, I suppose. This applies to events of small or big proportions, too. For our family, it can be the anticipation of something as simple as a family drive to the Biltmore Estate so the girls can put some favorite music in their ears and roll their windows down and enjoy the warm temperatures, or it can be a trip to the bookstore or the indie record store, or it can be a trip to the beach. Whatever inspires it, that sense of anticipation, of looking forward to something exciting or simply held dear, it creates a palpable sense of energy in and around our family.
For me, this child-like wonder is steeped in a family culture we have built from the time our girls were little ones. I suppose it stems from my penchant for adventure and for exploration and for those wonderful shared experiences. Mind you, with autistic children, I have learned that too much lead time can create anxiety more than excitement and anticipation, but over the years we have learned that balance. This has included trips to the library, swimming outings at my sister-in-law’s apartment pool, trips to indoor playgrounds, birthdays, and, of course, Christmas. In fact, ever since our girls were toddlers, I have created plenty of anticipation and celebration around birthdays, with balloons covering the floor, birthday banners, mylar balloons tied to the birthday girl’s chair, birthday gifts and, of course, unbirthday presents for the un-birthday girl.
To me, life is meant to be celebrated.
To me, time spent together should be cherished and celebrated as well.
To me, a trip to the library when our girls were 6 and 8 was as much an adventure worthy of excited anticipation as was the night before Christmas. My hope, of course, is that I will instill in our girls a zest for living life, for ordinary days that feel extraordinary, for everyday events that we hold dear and echo of sacredness. Days at home are as equally notable as a week at the beach. It doesn’t always seem or even feel that way; but it’s all about our perspective and the way we view this life we’ve been given. When I look at these two teenage girls of ours, I cannot help but see them through a mind steeped in gratitude. And, I see them as they, too, look toward moments with anticipation, with delight, with joy. May these two incredible young women always know a life that is rich with beauty and joy and a sense of anticipation for something wonderful that’s about to happen in their lives. Because, truly, something wonderful is never out of reach, and it’s always worth the wait.