Before, During and After

There’s something uniquely exciting for me about the anticipation of some looked-forward-to event.

I have distinct memories, as an 8-ish year old, of jumping up and down on my parents bed, possibly wearing my mother’s nightgown (?), singing some “visit Florida” tourism jingle in anticipation of our flight the next day. My parents didn’t really record these kinds of events, so while the broad strokes can be recalled, lots of the illuminating details have been lost to time. But I still remember that feeling of anticipation.

What if you could bottle that anticipatory excitement in a message, and just by reading that message - even years later - you could relive just a bit of that it’s-almost-here feeling? You can!

When I write my kids - this mostly applies to bigger, planned events such as birthdays, vacations or other milestones - I try to capture a little bit before the thing happens, during the thing, and also after.

Of course it’s nice to read the “after,” and recall all the little details that might have since been forgotten. But a day after, or a year after … they’re both still after.

Reading the “before” notes, though … they reignite this kind of phantom anticipation, for an event that occurred years ago! It evokes how I felt at the time, looking forward to the upcoming event. And reading the during notes puts me right back in the middle of the birthday party, or the cycling trip, or train ride to some exciting destination. It’s surreal, almost like a form of second sight, where you can look back on something as it’s unfolding, with the full knowledge of exactly what happened.

YMMV, but try it! Maybe I’m just weird like that.