Anticipation

Remarking about the fluttering of the "butterflies" in her stomach to a quiz show host, a young quiz show contestant later found a note mailed to her home. "I feel compelled to write you and to inquire," an entomologist wrote: "are you not aware that most butterflies, after they have acquired wings, only live for two weeks or less? That they spend months or even years as eggs and caterpillars and pupae?"

As with all things, good feelings shouldn't be taken for granted. Reflect on the time that it takes them to develop. Lives—and the events and experiences that make them up—are likewise protracted and lie dormant for years, highlighted by fleeting and relished "butterfly" moments. Carpe diem, trust little in the future, and get the most from the butterflies as they will give. People who can take the present moment and make the most of it, it turns out, do the best for themselves in the long run. As well as there are reasons for going over things slowly, for relishing the time that you have with them, there are reasons to anticipate that good times will come. In this house there will be marvelous food; in this work the task will soon be done. You can't trust that your butterflies will have wings longer than two weeks, but by relishing both their growth and their fruit, you can make them live forever.

"For me a woman is a book. There is no such thing as a bad book, as I have already told you. Go over it page by page, one is sure to find some place that will repay you for your trouble. Page by page, my friend, I love to go over it slowly."

— Frank Harris, My Life and Loves, vol. III