Her name was Anticipation ...

Her name was Anticipation ... Miss Anticipation I believe, since she always came on her own. However I did not know much more about her. She would just call without notice and she would invite herself for dinner before you could say a word. Like that relative of yours you have never met before and you only know from some gossip your cousin shared with you a long time ago. That relative of yours who one day 'happens to be near by' and 'decides to pop in to say hello and stay for lunch'. But unlike this newly found relative, there was some logic in Anticipation's arrival. You could almost expect her a few days before a trip, or an important event. She would knock on the front door and she would stay with you for days and days.

She was not such a bad guest after all. Often optimistic, very curious, and ready to 'go and do' anything anywhere and at anytime. And what a joyous companion she was, always expecting to be amazed, to be surprised, in wonder of the things to come. Ready to share a smile, to laugh at a bad joke, and to do all the little chores in the house no one really wants to do. Well, not really the later, but it felt like it to me.

A bit mad she was too ... as she would shift from readiness to uncertainty at any second. You could almost 'see' those little, dark doubts crawling towards her from all corners of the room, from the shadows underneath the table, from behind the TV. And then, as suddenly as those doubts brought a frown to her otherwise bright forefront, some invisible force pulled her back to normal.

And here she is today, my guest at home. And she will stay overnight, will take me to the airport in the morning, and will wave to me goodbye ... because tomorrow I will go travelling again.