There’s an old Akan adage, which I’ll paraphrase as thus “You don’t rush out to meet with festivities that’s coming to your house”.

It’s intended to encourage patience, patience for those things that’ll eventually come to us.

I was oddly reminded of that saying the first time I saw the 2010 Winter Olympics countdown clock.

A dad taking photos of his little girl tried to distract her by asking how old she’d be come February 2010.

The girl steadied herself for a moment, with her mom’s help counted on her fingers and shouted excitedly “I’ll be nine!”

Her older brother says with an incredulous look, “But, that’ll take forever!”

1092 days seemed so very far away.

2010 seemed like a lifetime to come.

I’ve passed by the clocked several times in almost three years that it’s been counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds.

A lot has happened since then, and yet some things have remained the same.

I’m beginning to think that maybe 2010 didn’t seem so far away after all.

It’s only two months away now.

I guess it’s time to look beyond when the clock stops counting down… because that’s inevitable.