The Coin of Life

"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you."  Carl Sandburg

Ah, Time.  Today I lamented my lack of it.  It seems- like dark chocolate, red wine, or cute shoes-I can never get enough.  I wasted a good deal of time this afternoon, in fact, calculating that I need more time.  Two hours more, to be precise. 


What would I do with two additional hours?  Perhaps I would pumice my heels and treat myself to an avocado and cucumber home facial. (There's never time for that.) Maybe I'd organize the nightmare that is my linen closet or finally get around to cleaning out my filing cabinet.  I could vacuum the couch cushions or polish my jewelry. Shampoo the carpet or wash the mini-blinds. Hmmm...I would have time to bake something or start a new scrapbook, or perhaps I could sort through the clothes I no longer wear and donate them to charity. I could straighten out, or at least dust, my bookshelves or rearrange my junk drawer.  Perhaps I could find the mates to partner-less socks or sew the missing buttons back on to my coat. With two more hours the possibilities are endless!  I could accomplish so much!


Just two more hours...sigh.


Today, I taught a full day's worth of sophomore English (including new vocabulary, literature circle meetings, a discussion on satire, and a reading from Bradbury's The Illustrated Man). I graded papers, planned curriculum, made copies, and sent important emails to colleagues.  I went to the pet store, got gas, cleaned the kitty litter box, did the dishes, washed and folded a load of laundry, made dinner, and went for a walk.  Soon I will pack my lunch for tomorrow, prepare my wardrobe, and set the coffee to auto-brew in the morning.  Molly will be fed, the kitchen will be tidied, and the living room set to right.  I will trudge up the stairs, wash my face and head to bed, where I will eek out a half an hour to read before falling asleep, exhausted.


I shouldn't complain, I know.  I really have no right.  I had time to write this, after all. And while I do have a sweetheart and a cat, who both seem to require an enormous amount of my attention, I don't have children.  I am simply AMAZED by all the mothers out there.  If I can barely find the time to get things done, how on earth to YOU do it?  I can only imagine what you ladies would do with two more hours.


Alas!  I have at least six clocks in my home and I have been unable to coerce any of them into giving me those precious additional hours.  Ever forward they march, and so ever forward I go.   No sense in dwelling. As Plutarch said,  "The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it."  If twenty four hours is all I'm given on this day to spend, then so be it.  I will spend them wisely and spend them well.  I will spend them thankful and leave off lamenting what could have been.  It was enough.  And I am happy.   


Until next time (hee hee), 



Today's Gratitude List:

• open windows
• birdsong
• fabric softener
• ice cream