Time
I love antique clocks and pocket watches. I have an insane amount of them because I love them so much. They're really hardy and after a hundred plus years, they are still working. The thing is, you really don't know when they may stop working. You go to check the time and the pendulum has stopped swinging. No ticking, no time. Sometimes you can get it started again, sometimes not so much.
Time is so important. Especially if you are like me and have a time deficit. I always underestimate time and because of that, I'm typically late. Thus this leads to people telling me a scheduled event is really a half hour later than when they tell me so I can be on time. I don't always pay attention to time, but it's not only the time of day that's so important to which to pay attention. Life is time. A friend of mine recently learned her father has cancer. While they awaited all the results to see exactly with what they were dealing, she said to me "I got to thinking last night, I took time for granted. I always thought I would have all the time in the world, but you just don't know that. I've learned I want to spend more time with my family, because time is precious" In addition to this, two people I know lost their dads and three their mom. One of my friends lost both her father and mother about 6 months apart.
That got me thinking about my own parents. They're both still here but at 79 and 82, I'm sure that there's less time than more, so I called them and said "I'm not going to take time for granted anymore".
I'm writing this because as I was driving home from work tonight I heard so many people beeping their horn out of irritation rather than necessity. I saw one woman swearing up a storm as a driver ahead of her was causing this woman to be so angry and I didn't particularly see anything the other driver was doing to upset her. I thought to myself do these people realize they are taking time for granted? Using up the time they have in the day being angry and annoyed when no one knows when our pendulum is going to stop swinging? Is it really worth spending those precious moments of life on swearing at the person in front of you that's not going as fast as you want them to? I can be an impatient driver myself and sometimes I have to stop myself and think about not wasting my time and energy on something that's a blip in life. Well that and nowadays you don't know who is going to pull a gun out and shoot you for not driving a way they want. I've read too many stories of people flipping off the wrong person and then getting shot in the head and killed for it. So many lives ruined and such stolen time it's unfathomable to me. Flipping the bird, blaring your horn, swearing up a storm at someone....it's not worth the time it will steal from you. Neither is spending extra long hours at work, or settling for things that only make you complacent. Some antique clocks are beautiful and invaluable. However if the case is cracked, the dial chipped, or it's not working because it's missing parts you wouldn't settle for the clock and take it as is. You would wait to buy the one that is perfect and worth every cent you put into it. That's how life should be. Put every ounce of energy into that which is worth the energy and worth spending the precious time you have. Make the moments invaluable, not a cheap reproduction, or a beat up broken down glance back in time. Make your pendulum swing as long as you can, keeping perfect beat to the rhythm of life so that someday when your pendulum has stopped swinging you and all around you knew that life's time wasn't wasted. It was well spent on loving, living, and always reaching for where you wanted to be. It wasn't taken for granted.
Special thanks to Melissa Richardson, My Missy, for the inspiration of “Time”