talky, talky, talky

Today was a big ol talky day! I went into the office about 11 and at 1:00 I hadn't even made it upstairs yet. I spent the entire time talking with the pastor of the Methodist church that my congregation shares space with. Then I came home for lunch and then headed off to Target to get a birthday card for a parishioner who is turning 4 on Thursday. And then back at the house I talked with another parishioner for about 40 minutes on the telephone. Now while there was a whole lot of talking going on, a few really good things happened. (1) I got a lot accomplished and (2) I found Kashi cereal at the Target. Not just found it but I found a lot of it. It was all that I could do keep from buying just tons of it. But I don't have the storage space to store cereal. So I'm just going to trust that it will be there again when I need it
Today was one of those days when I was sort of forced into thinking about the future. I feel like I'm on such a journey to live in the present that I really resist thinking about the future. And I'm just not sure how to balance a need to plan for and think about the future without getting caught up in obsessing about what the future will actually be like. Do you get the difference? My tendency is to skip all that's going on in the present and just live in what the future will be like. Example: Last time I visited my friends Tracy and Dave and their sons, Noah and Wesley, I was sad to leave them. It had been such a wonderful vacation and I loved, loved spending time with them. So what did I do I woke up early and proceeded the next 3 hours before it was time to to go constantly piddling around the house getting ready for the plane ride back. Now I can pack in about 15 minutes. But it is easier to contantly distract myself so that I don't have to deal with the grief over leaving. Which really I'm thinking, as I write this, that isn't so much about focusing on the future as it is distracting myself from feeling any difficult emotions.
But I still think it is worth considering how to balance living in the present while at the same time reflecting on the future. In that vain I'm still going to trust that there is going to be more Kashi when I need it.