Todd Wilson over at FamilyManWeb.com just sent me a good reminder. Here it is:
It’s a beautiful, spring morning here in Northern Indiana. The sun is shining, the temperature is well below freezing, and there is a winter storm warning for the next two days. Perfect weather for finishing up the last minute details before we hit the road next Wednesday---NOT!
Actually, I feel a little overwhelmed and discouraged. I’m having a tail light issue on the RV, which I hadn’t anticipated, my grandmother will be going to heaven soon, and---did I mention the winter storm thing?
Here’s the real kicker: time is passing at lightning speed, and I don’t like it. Just yesterday, my wife was talking to an old high school friend who mentioned that her daughter would be going to college in the fall and she was saddened by the thought that she was---leaving.
When my wife relayed their conversation to me, I was taken back in time to a restaurant table filled with a bunch of young couples that were entertained by a little girl in a highchair who could say, “Bubbles.”
Now the restaurant is gone, some of the couples are no longer couples, and the little bubble girl will be going to college in the fall---and I’ve got a lump in my throat.
That’s the thing about time. It sneaks up on you and changes things before you notice or can do anything about it. It takes little girls and boys and turns them into men and women. It takes fried chicken-making grandmothers and confines them to wheelchairs unable to communicate, eventually transforming them into fond memories.
Time’s doing ‘it’ right now. My little daughter who begs her very busy father to play Candyland will quit asking one day. And about the time I’m starting to have time---she won’t be there.
Drat that dastardly time!
But my ‘drats’ won’t change things. My only recourse is to enjoy my family, the cold weather, and a game of Candlyland today because the bubble girl is going to college in the fall.
"Dastardly time" is unrelenting, and just like Todd says, it changes things and moves people beyond our reach. You know, since I've lost the ability to work full-time, you'd think I'd naturally have more time for my kids. Imagine my shock when I'd looked back over the months and found that I'd spent a lot of time on "stuff" and not as much on my kids as I would like.
When I was a kid, I had a big sandbox in my back yard. It was Tonka heaven! In the summer, I would liven things up and get a hose to create "water management projects." One of the first things I learned working in "muck" was that sand and water have their own mind about where they want to go. Holes that would normally stay where you put them needed something in them or they would disappear as quickly as you dug the hole. It's the same thing with time. Time will naturally fill in the voids unless you intentionally put something there to keep it open.
What they say is true: you make time for the important things. No one went to their grave wishing they'd put in more overtime or pressed harder for that raise in pay. Work is work; it's what makes living possible. Don't forget to live. Make the time for your family.
