One More Time

Did I do enough? Did I see enough?

I never got out to Second City or the Science Museum! Is the car packed? Will I get to see everyone before I leave? I don’t have a picture of Wrigley Field! I didn’t pet a police horse! Is the car packed? Is there something on Foster I need to experience for the last time? Will I get to see everyone? Do they have board games and pick-up basketball in Texas? Is the car packed?

Did I do enough?

These thoughts ran on a loop through my brain as I approached my last week in Chicago. I was so concerned with “leaving well” I had forgotten to actually leave well. Thanks to some solid advice I was able to shift my thinking from worrying about the bucket list I had made for myself four years ago, and instead contemplate what I wanted to do with the week I had left. It was then I realized that what I wanted wasn’t brand new experiences unique to Chicago or to construct the "perfect" finish to my time.

What I needed to do was answer the question “If I have a week left in Chicago, what do I want to do with it?” The answer was to enjoy each fleeting moment. 

Rather than worry about manufacturing some “too good for a movie” ending to my time in the Windy City, I decided to enjoy “One More” time with the people and places that had made the last four years of my growth so special, so unique, and so cherished.

I stopped being obsessed with the past and what I had or hadn’t done.

I stopped being obsessed with the future and what I did or didn’t need to do.

I became content with the present. I sat and enjoyed “one more time” with the people and places that shaped my life these last four years. 

To all those who were a part of that week,

and to all those that were a part of these last four years,

so long and thanks for all the fish...

and here’s to the hope that we may meet again

One More Time

--Serving Him alongside all of you, just from further away

--Jesse Letourneau

video here