Time

Sometimes, I wish I was a bit more ahead of the game.  It's pretty easy to look ahead into the future and think of things that, while perhaps you'll have them someday, you wish you had now.  Today, as I was thinking "I wish I were" and "I wish it'd be like," it dawned on me that perhaps, years from now, I would realize that this particular moment in life was short.  And special.

It's a lot easier to be grateful for things when you realize that, with time, everything changes.  Whatever it is you don't like about where you are now will be gone, but whatever it is you do like will be gone too. 
I remember feeling so sad sometimes in Argentina, but my homestay family was incredible and those were the best tomatoes and the best wine I've ever had.  Living in the Netherlands was trying and confusing, but I experienced such odd things there that I'll never have the chance to experience again.  London is bustling and crazy and can make me weary, but I saw six musicals last year alone and there's so much still to explore.

When I look back on my past, there is so much I'm nostalgic for.  I know it'll be that way again...that, in the future, I might experience so many new and wonderful things, but there's also so much I'll look back on and realize that I never enjoyed enough.  Then I realize that the biggest gift of life is just recognizing what's beautiful about every moment and situation and really soaking it in.