The countdown in the lower right of my site says “5 Day to Go.” Til I leave to follow Bruce Springsteen around the South for 3 weeks.

Doesn’t seem possible.

Isn’t it always like that? Whatever we plan, however far away it seems—suddenly it’s here. Oh, how time rushes at us, continuously. Non-stop, like a freight train or the rapids of a rushing river.

And then it’s over. In the blink of a proverbial eye.

So, as I scramble these last days to get the house in order for the cat-sitter, wrap up work  to the maximum degree possible, pack for the journey, purchase shit I absolutely must have (like a Canon 70D and car magnets that say “followingbruce.com”), make Airbnb reservations, find tickets to the shows (!!), and do God knows what else (eyebrows waxed, last-minute mammograms cuz for some reason it just can’t wait another second)…I realize that I don’t want to miss this fleeting experience of the scramble.

This is PART OF THE EXPERIENCE. This is the process. This is the gift of any given moment, of every breath, of every messy second I get to be alive as a human being. No matter how tough or weird or awkward things are, or how good or bad I feel, no matter what—I don’t want to miss it.

I want AWARENESS. I pray for it and I’m calling it in. Circling up, lighting the candles, crying to the heavens. “Let me be present to all that happens, don’t let me sleep through another second of being alive!”

And so, another day begins. Precious human life, and I don’t want to waste it.