prep work

This image is self-referential in that it involves a screen print of the prep work I did for the blog post.

For some reason I’m thinking of the funeral expenses my mother has just incurred. One line item was the rabbi’s fee, which was $400. There is no doubt in my mind that he earned his money, and then some: my mother was comforted by his well-chosen words, which showed an astonishing familiarity with the relationship my mother and stepfather had. Yet his “face time” with my mom and all of us was less than two hours. His own Prep Work for this task, though, began well before his thirteenth birthday.

Indeed, Prep Work for truly important work takes far more time than the work itself. My Prep Work for my first marathon began July 4, 1983, and more than 1500 miles of increasingly long runs and higher mileage per week. Yet when I took my place amongst the 10,000 other runners on August 19, 1984, I felt unprepared, and this proved true: my finish time of four hours, eight minutes and change was a bitter disappointment. (Now, however, I’m proud and happy about what I did, and what I’ve done since then. Age sometimes brings at least a little wisdom.)

In the largest sense, of course, everything we’ve done in our lives so far is Prep Work for what we’re going to do next. How’s by you? [smile]