OPINION: Halfway point, are we there yet?

Congrats to all, we’re halfway through the year! 2025 marks the halfway point of the decade and the quarter point of the century. For many, this has been a stressful year, or maybe an exciting year; a time of transition, regression, transgression, conversation and all the other fun words; and yet we still look ahead all the same.

This past weekend, and by extension the previous week, has been a busy time for me. Our editor Cheyenne is now out for maternity leave which means a few extra duties, mostly for me covering baseball when needed.

I love baseball. I get why people might think it’s boring, but I never liked the sports that are constant adrenaline. The tension when a pitcher wheels his arm back is unlike any other feeling, and the jubilation of a mighty bat whack when a good hit lands is unlike any other sport.

Baseball is a game about moments. That’s what makes it so easy to talk about. Where did the energy peak? When the ball sailed over the fence.

Moments are underrated, in my opinion. I think there is no stronger force in our lives than the feeling of being in a moment.

On Friday night, the Afton Community Club held a new event for their community, bringing in Top Notch Fireworks to set off a show which would kick off a whole weekend of activities.

I’ve got around 400 photos of those fireworks, but there is no way to give justice to the feeling of seeing the entire sky fill with color and light. If the sky was a roof, that roof was repainted in explosive color. That’s a moment.

The sky doesn’t need to burst into flames to be considered a moment. I’m currently gearing up with Crest Area Theatre to bring “The Beverly Hillbillies” to this town through my role as the stuffy, greedy bank president Milburn Drysdale.

I love acting so much because it’s literally about creating moments. Maybe people will remember my voice, a joke I said or a look I’m trying to pull off. Maybe I’ll trip on stage and make a funny sound as I land in front of an audience. Like “buf!” or “oog!” That would be a moment too.

Bearing witness to a moment is practically what entertainment is all about. It’s why I go to the movies. Nothing beats a moment. When I remember people, places and anything else, I remember the moments.

I’ve had the luck this year to be close to the people I care about, and a quiet moment together has given me more room for understanding myself and how I feel about others. Even if some days don’t go well, I don’t forget those moments.

I’ve gotten mad in moments, been alone in moments and wanted to change in moments.

I think it’s hard for most people to look at their own lives in this way. It’s hard to feel disembodied about what you might be feeling, especially in the middle of a moment. But a large part of this year has been giving myself the space to recognize both what I’m feeling and why I would feel that way, especially on reflection.

Everyone regrets something, no matter how small. I think we all wish some things in our lives went better than they did. But the past is the past; going back through moments we regret doesn’t really get anywhere unless we learn and move forward. Part of the irony of reflection is sometimes recognizing a moment is just a moment.

The future awaits, and so many moments are still to come. At times, we might blink and miss these moments. If we’re too busy staring at the ground, when will we ever see the sky, and when would we see it dazzle with greens and reds and blues?

Preserving moments is pretty easy. Pictures will do fine. It’s pretty amazing how a single picture of a person, place or thing can get the wheels of a brain spinning. We all have a camera in our pockets now; those images will mean more than a picture.

If a moment happens with friends or family, hold those people close. I remember moments with friends I’ll never see again, and we never knew that would be the last time we saw each other.

My senior year of high school was supposed to end with my year as the Class of 2020. A worldwide pandemic had other plans. Some moments didn’t get to happen. But it just doesn’t matter as much as what’s going on in my life right now, and I don’t want to miss it.

As I stand here on my weekly soapbox talking about how we treat gender identity one week and then a movie I saw the next as if they were of equal importance, all I can say is how important it is to recognize moments.

Looking back and preparing ahead is wired into our brains. Cause and effect is the single greatest rule humans use to create patterns and problem solve. Some problems are overblown, some require that extra attention.

The curse of this is standing so stressed in seeking success we lose the ability to detach. The short-term is uncomfortable, the long-term looming; I’m not saying to drop all problems, but worrying too much is a waste of time.

There’s no better use of your time than to go seek moments. Put some gauze on what hurts, don’t forget a camera.