The Power of Timing
Photo Credit: Emily Giacomini
I had the opportunity to look after a beautiful vegetable garden for a couple weeks in North Carolina this summer while my friends went backpacking in the northwest. Tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, peppers, basil, parsley, watermelon, cantaloupe, and even hops filled their bountiful garden plot and they generously let me enjoy whatever was ripe during my stay. The challenge was how to tell when the tasty treats were ready. A tiny tomato turning to the fullness of its orange hue . . . or would tomorrow be the day it was truly ripe? Cucumbers always seemed willing to grow a bit more, but at what cost? When does the yellow shadow overwhelm the advantage of another centimeter or two?
Pests were also a consideration. Squirrels beat me to the punch several times with the larger tomatoes. Even the tiny ones seemed to literally bust their seams before a novice gardener might imagine it was the day. After losing several gems waiting too long for the perfect moment, I began to lean into the “bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” philosophy and pluck those delicious little fruits before I lost them to their own explosion, critters or high windstorms.
In what areas of life does timing matter for you at the moment? Do you need to exercise prudent restraint until the right moment or is this your time, now? What factors contribute to the choice? Have you predetermined them so as not to make an impulsive call? Or like me, do you need to do a bit more research on the topic to determine what’s most appropriate?
On my drive home, I took a slight detour to visit the sunny Outer Banks. On the first evening, while enjoying some fish tacos overlooking the ocean, I watched a kite surfer taking advantage of a windy evening and active swells near shore. It looked terrifying! My waiter had been a kite surfing instructor and enthusiastically described teaching newbies from age 8 to 80 how to kite surf, bringing it into the realm of possibility for me.
The next afternoon I did some on-the-fly research heading south after an adventure at the north end of the Outer Banks. I found a school willing to take me on last minute and before I knew it, I was standing waist-deep in the sound after a short boat ride with the instructor. He had warned me that we would cancel if the wind dropped, but I’d still persevered with the 90 minute drive, fueled by ice cream for a late lunch.
Rick showed me how to set up the kite in the water, attaching the four lines properly and clipping everything into my waist harness. I learned to make slight adjustments with each hand, aiming to keep the kite directly overhead, building up my skills so I could graduate to standing on the board. Sadly, the wind speed continued to drop to the point where the kite was harder to manage and threatened to plunge from the sky. Rick said, “If you’d been an hour or two earlier it would have worked.” Timing again- it’s everything!
Sometimes you choose, as with the garden, and sometimes, as with the wind, you have minimal control. In the end I was glad I’d taken my chances, grabbing some vegetables perhaps a mite early and squeezing in kite-surfing on my last day at the beach. Where do you have control at the moment over a choice where timing makes the difference? How much can you influence the outcome? All we can ever do is give it our best shot- so trust your judgment and make the call!