Four months

Sartre said that 3pm is either too early or too late to do anything you want to do.

I think a similar thing is true of the period of four months: it is either too long a time, or not long enough.

For instance: I came to Canada to spend 4 months. Then I liked it so much that I stayed another 4. And then another 4. And so on, and so on. It has now been 8 years.

Last Christmas I decided it was enough. I would do another set of 4 months, and go home in April. And because it was supposed to be the "last" 4 months, I stopped investing energy in trying new things, because, after all, what's the point, I'll be gone in four months.

The funny thing though, is that when I first came, the same justification was used for exactly the opposite behaviour. I had to try everything, and fast, because I'd only be around for four months. I had no time to lose. So I just made friends and went places and did things and was generally happy and carefree.

But whereas in my first four months in Canada the short amount of time translated into an incredible openness, in this last four months the opposite was the case. All of a sudden four months was too short a time to start anything worthwhile. Granted, it was winter time. But still. There are thousand of things you can do in four wintry months, as my friend Danilo who just moved to Montreal last Christmas can attest (http://degelocanadense.blogspot.com).

It is now April, and the four months have again been extended for another four. Will it be too long or too short to do things I want to do?

This time I want to say: it is just the right amount of time.