Time Matters

As the old hymn implies, "Time is filled with swift transition..." and with many crossroads, points in life for pondering which path to take whether Robert Frosts "road less traveled" or the more trafficked ones. Monumental moments for me were selecting a college and major, marriage and starting a family, shifting careers from high school teacher to principal and lastly college professor, and ultimately retirement. Each phase had consequences ranging from simple to severe. After about two and a half years of retirement, I have come to realize that It's All About TIME!

My perception of the calendar has changed. My wife and I don't get concerned about bedtime these days (or nights). We often stay up until 11 p.m. or later reading, relaxing, or watching cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. The rationale is we no longer have to awaken by 6:15 a.m. to get ready for work. Time has changed. We joke about our weekly calendar's main evolution. Sunday hasn't changed much. It is still a day of worship, nice dinners, visiting with friends, relaxing, and resting. The other days though...oh my those other days! They have all become like Saturdays. We have a Monday Saturday, Tuesday Saturday, Wednesday Saturday...all the way to the Real Saturday. When we both worked, Saturday was the day for doing...chores, errands, shopping, or even gallivanting around the neighborhood or countryside. Things piled up, to do lists kept getting longer. The limited number of hours in our Saturday caused us to ignore lots of the important and deal with only some of the urgent. Now we have literally six times as many minutes to choose to do or not to do. Yes, we still have routines, plans, and those sometimes dreaded lists; but most items aren't as pressing as when Saturday stood alone as THAT day.

So if retirement is on your near or still somewhat distant horizon, prepare for a cool notion. You will have six Saturdays in every week. It's GREAT! It MATTERS!