40 Days

How long is 40 days? Is it a short time or a long time? Jesus spent 40 days in the desert being tempted. He also did not eat for that amount of time. During the flood, it rained for 40 days and nights.

I’m moving back to Miami in 40 days. When this occurred to me, I got very excited. I remember that first day I was here, how lonely I felt after Julie left and how long a year seemed at the time. As with most experiences, what seemed like a long time beforehand has flown by as I look back at it. Now I will be going home for good in 40 days.

But as I was pondering this, I began to view the number from different perspectives. I moved here on August 20 last year. I will be leaving exactly 3 weeks shy of being here a full year. That’s 344 days. 40 days is more than 10% of the number of days I will have lived in Gainesville. 40 days is more than a month, out of 11 months that am staying here. 40 days is almost six weeks. When I think about it terms of weeks, months or even a percentage of time, I realize I have left what could be considered a fairly significant portion of my time in Gainesville.

40 days could be considered a long time. For me, it doesn’t seem that long. I am ready to live under the same roof as Julie again. We have survived the time apart (so far) and have even had positive experiences as a result of this time. I’ll tell you this, though, it’s 344 days longer than I ever want to live apart again. But it also seems too short. I’m not necessarily ready to leave Gainesville. I’ve made good friends here. I have a great church home. There are things I haven’t done yet. Gainesville is surrounded by state parks and nature preserves that I would like to have visited, but haven’t had the chance or haven’t taken the opportunity to do so. Not to mention the fact that as each one of those days goes by, I’m that much closer to taking the bar exam and I still feel so far away from being adequately prepared.

So I look on the next 40 days with mixed emotion. While I hope it doesn’t rain for the next 40 days, and I certainly wouldn’t want to give up food that whole time, it will go by too quickly in some respects. In other respects it can’t get by soon enough. Regardless of the perspective, I know this: On the night of July 30 as I finally get to go to sleep in my own bed again, I will look back and wonder where the time went and be thankful for each one of the days. Thankful for the new experiences they have brought me. And thankful that they are behind me.