Saturday, April 27, 2013

A March to the Finish Line - Entry #33


I can’t believe there are less then 30 more notes and letters to write.  It seems like yesterday I set out on this road of discovery to craft a card a day for one year.  One year!  Three Hundred sixty-five days!  When I step back, browse my spreadsheet (yes, I have a record of everyone I’ve written to) it is hard to comprehend the end is so near.  When I began on May 25, 2012 I had two huge concerns.  First, would I have the discipline and perseverance to see the project through to its conclusion?  Was my pronouncement via cyberspace more bravado then reality?  Second, could I actually come up with the set goal of individuals and/or couples to send a piece of correspondence to during this timeframe?   I knew there would be a robust pool of people to draw on for my cards--real world friends, colleagues, family members, students, Facebook connections, and almost 2,000 Twitter followers.  Factor in casual acquaintances and individuals I may not even know and the $64,000 question was would all of this add up to the magic number of 365?

The answer to the first question has been yes, with an asterisk.  As I stated in an earlier post (blog entry #23) the daily writing requirement has been more of a plus/minus three.  Translation—I may be between three days ahead of schedule or three days behind.  So while the majority of my notes or letters are written daily, I have built in some wiggle room.  This has served me well during absences from home and office, vacations, or the occasional malaise I feel as I veg out in front of the television after a long, hard day on the job.

The next question, in a way, answers itself since I am over 93% complete with my undertaking.  Still, as I race to the finish line I worry.  The remaining names in my little black book have almost all been crossed off.  As of this moment in time I will admit I do not have all the remaining names figured out, mainly to give me some leeway with the final selections.  However, I will not write to just anyone just for the sake of getting to my critical number--“oh, meter maid thank you for giving me that parking ticket.  I was a bad boy and deserved it.  You are a credit to your profession;” or “grocery bagger I admire the way you group produce in one bag and frozen food in another.  You are artistry in motion.”   A secondary question is more important--will I complete my project and realize, after-the-fact, that I inadvertently left someone off that I wanted to include?  I’ve had a few fitful nights’ rest as this thought ricochets through my mind.  While many of the individuals that are on the receiving end of one of my missives know of The Project, the vast majority are unaware of this venture.  This should preclude a clamoring horde sobbing at my door if someone doesn’t receive one of my personalized notes.  If that does occur I guess I could just prolong my task.  Or not.

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