It’s About Time

What are the things that we most value in life? Can you name them off the top of your head? At this moment it is time and what is happening with the time given and spent? I think of J. R. R. Tolkien’s words from the Fellowship of the Ring. He said, “all we have to decide is what to do with the time we are given.” Do you look at the day before you and say, “What a great day! Thank you for this time”? Having time, just being able to have it, that is what is meaningful. And each day you wake up, you have been given the time to do and be and see and feel all that is around you. I think of my grandpa and remember what he said to me so many moons ago, “when I woke up and could feel the floor beneath my feet, it was a good day“. It is a memory with a lasting message that means more to me now than ever before.

Deep breath here. Time. The cycle of time, that goes by so fast, continuous, never ending, and beckons one in asking the question “how was time spent?” Oh my. Where to start? Do I talk about me getting up way too early this morning because I wanted a few moments to myself. Why one may ask? Well it is a great question. So lately, my reality has been, taking care of my granddaughter. Yes, for the next little while I get to babysit my youngest granddaughter, bless her little 19-month old heart. Why? No brainer. I love my grandkids. But seriously, there is a daycare shortage of spaces available in Ontario, especially for under two year olds. So those who have daycare, be in gratitude because it is very difficult to find daycare during this time. Thankfully I can help out.

Spending time with my youngest granddaughter is a gift beyond measure. However, I must qualify that too. Let’s just say that I am recognizing that my brain works way better than the body parts of me, especially my knees, memory of songs, and arm muscles. Lifting a little one seems cute until you lift and carry her for a bit as her little legs are tired from the outdoor park/walk or has a booboo or the playground equipment as height and such are not a thing to her. Then indoor play. For goodness sake, invest in knee pads if you are over 60. These old knees are susceptible to bone creaking and no give and take on an unforgiving carpetless floor and play area. LOL. Thank goodness for the invention of those puzzle pieced Disney spongy floor mats (grateful to my daughter for the purchase too). Yes, I kneel, lay, sit, crawl on those little Disney princesses picture images emboldened in the mat because I need to (sorry princess girls). Little one, PLEASE stay on the mat. Hahaha. Listening skills 101. Well she needs practice in hearing me. Aaaaahhhhh.

Being with one grandchild does not allow me to spend time with my much missed other two grandkids. It is not as if I can be in two places at once unless I purchase the state of the art Harry Potter’s Hermione’s Time Turner. Kind of a bittersweet quandary to feel not being able to be with both. Yet, time can be stopped, paused, captured, fully alive too. Praise to the cell phone makers and shakers, testing the endless limits to what that device can do. Or the new version of reality presence, you got zoomed. Unbelievable! Regardless, in a matter of seconds beautiful faces come to the screen just waiting to be pinched. Haha. How the world has changed. FYI: Do not for a second think that I would replace face to face but I’ll save the pondering of the nuances of video chat/zoomed” world for another time.

Anyway, last weekend, I was given a couple of moments in time with my mom that moved me to pause the time; hold onto for a second. So the Saturday my sister and I went to visit my mom in nursing home. We caught her sleeping in her wheelchair and woke her up. I am not sure if that did it, but she was serious and kept this kind of blank fierce stare for most of visit. Now my older sister can be quite crusty with her jokes, teasing and egging mom on, trying to get her going. Nothing would do. One moment her face was fierce looking and the next tears rolled down her eyes. Holy moly. We, my sister and I, had our masks on, and tears began to roll down our cheeks too. It was such a tender, heartbreaking and poignant moment of not knowing the why. I could see my mom trying to push out words but they would not come out. Nothing. Which made it harder to stop the flow of tears streaming down her face and ours. Geez. Holy mighty Lord. Why? My sister bent over and said to our mom, “Mom I am so sorry this is happening to you. I wish it did not. So much.” Hard to leave. So grateful it was supper time because somehow the word supper brought mom back. Dementia is not nice.

But the next day on my visit, with my dad and me this time, to see her, she was smiles and seemed to be in good spirits. We had a good visit. She even seemed to be able to respond to questions as I asked her how come our brother’s name begins with “M” but the three girls all have “k” sounding names. What’s up with that? She laughed when dad said well the name “Kucky” would not do. Must be an inside joke between them. LOL. It was a beautiful visit and more so towards end of time, when we took her to lunch, my mom reached out her hand to my dad as I wheeled her chair down the all and they held hands to the dining room. I am telling you in that moment, a time of love etched in my mind, I am most grateful. Each moment of time counts if we only but know it.

Time is precious, don’t you find? Although if you are a clock watcher, time seems to slow down. It does not go any faster if you give it the ‘eye’ or ‘the look’ as you monitor its lack of progress. LOL. I have heard that the best things take time, which does not give permission to always be late. One pet peeve of mine is hearing ‘just 5 more minutes’. Honestly it still bothers me to this day. Trying to get your child up in time to get to school on time, there would be a voice echoing down the hall, “just 5 more minutes”. I see RED. I mean it. Not one of my finer moments as a mom. Ugh. Seriously. So this past summer when we were getting things ready for the wedding day ahead, my daughter still sleeping, said sleepily “just 5 more minutes”. Nine years since I heard that. But this time, haha, I walked out. Lesson learned. LOL.

So for now, be patient with the time you have. It is not the quantity but the quality of time in what you choose to do with it as you will. For time funnily enough, does not wait for you, it keeps on ticking. And you can waste time for you cannot retrieve it. I think a realistic phrase by my middle daughter recently saying “woulda shoulda coulda”. It is so true. But time is ours even though many would say are you kidding. But it is. You can choose. It may appear less than altruistic to others of how you use it, but it is a valuable and precious resource that each of us has in our grasp.

So cheers to time, active time that is relentless, irreversible, wasted, controlled, elusive. Give the gift of time to those whom are in need. Blessings.

Time passes too quickly when your getting ready to do something you do not want to do. ~Courtney Summers

Realize that you have the time to whine and complain about it you have the time to do something about it. ~Anthony D’Angelo

Learn to appreciate what you have, before time makes you appreciate what you had. ~Unknown

Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not. Stephen King, The Green Mile

I always arrive late to the office but I make up for it by leaving early. ~Quotesgram

It’s almost bed time. So I’ll just check my email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and watch my one of my favourite season show on Netflix.~ coolfunnyjokes.com

It is not enough to be busy. The question is: what are we busy about? Henry D Thoreau

We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they’re called memories. Some take us forward, they’re called dreams. ~ Jeremy Irons

If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves. Maria Edgeworth

I have 206 bones, 650 muscles, 50 billion cells in my body. It takes time to wake up all of them up in the morning. ~coolfunnyquotes.com

Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, its the only time we got. ~ Art Bushwald

Time is precious….waste it wisely. ~cherrybam.com

With money, you can buy a clock. But not time. ~Chinese Proverb

Don’t say “There’s still time” or “Maybe next time”. Because there is also the concept of “It’s too late.” ~ Anon