And So Betwixt the Two of Them

'I thought I was on the gravy train, and then the Wabash cannon ball got me.'

It has been said that when the time for action comes, the time for preparation has passed, and I very much agree.

I've had some recent discussions with a couple of friends about this in the context of marriage. It would appear that too many get caught up in getting to and preparing for the wedding but few they are who work toward and plan for the marriage. The happy day then comes and passes and the two find there is much more of work to making their union work than perhaps they bargained for. So much focus given to happily getting married and few who pay attention to the personal adjustments and preparations required to go on happily living married.

It's not an event to which we ought aspire, but a manner of being for which we need to plan. Where two people meet and feel so compelled to serve one another and to provide for the needs and wants of one another seems a more promising situation than two who meet and stumble into love and can't take their eyes off each other. It seems we often seek out the gravy expecting the substance and nutrition of the meat to follow, when it's actually the meat, after having been well prepared and cooked, which gives rise to the stock from which the gravy can be made and, once united, both may be enjoyed together.

As a single young woman, I have had small tastes of gravy and I have had some taste of meat. Could it be that perhaps the man whom I seek has been kept from me because I have not yet made of myself the person he seeks? Vice versa? Maybe the timing is off for one or both of us. It could be a number of things, but one thing remains sure: on the whole, I yet remain a lone and hungry Jack Sprat. I decided today that I will continue to strive to live for the right steak, in the right place, at the right time. And until that time, there is much preparation I need to do so that when the inevitable banquet day comes and goes, the true feast will continue long after.

Bon appetite!