Counting

I love to know the numbers that describe my work. For example, in 2017:

I baked 100 loaves of sandwich bread and another 20 boules.

I wrote 73,961 words on this website, in 369 posts. I read 22 books.

I count crunches and miles run (5 1/2 this week…). I count stairs (14 in my house; I can still tell you the number of steps in old houses and the WMU Music Building, too.)

My point is this: it’s easy to quantify certain things in my life. But other parts are just as important, and less quantifiable. How many times did I hug one of my sons? Share a joke with a student? Give a wrong cue while conducting?

Even those are technically countable – but who could ever find the time to count all those things?

And the most valuable things in my days aren’t countable. Love. Happy thoughts and in-the-moment thinking. Laughter at the dinner table.

I love to count but I also know that the best things in my life aren’t countable. And so I keep counting, but I also don’t overvalue the things I count.

What things in your life do you count? What do you most value that you can’t count?