I have spent time, enjoyed time, rushed through time, lost time, and used time. I have wondered about time, counted time, wasted time, and slept through time. I have matured over time, kept time, remembered the time, had the time of my life, and assumed I had all the time in the world.  I have been on time, in time, and out of time. People have demanded my time and many have enhanced my time.  I think back to the good ole times and I look forward to great times.   Most of all, at this stage in my life, I truly appreciate and value time.

Time can be short... or long.  It depends on how you measure it. Time can be measured by significant events, some traumatic, some treasured.  Some of my treasured events are: giving birth to my children Malik, Kito, and Ebon, saying I do to the handsome Mr. May, taking a welding class, welcoming grandbabies into the world, and standing before the Grand Canyon in awe, experiencing the magnificence of God.  Darrel says for him it was, high school and college graduations, marriage (to me I hope:) and the birth of his sons Dorian and Damien. Darrel has another time that he will never forget.  In high school, he did not go out for the baseball team but the kids he played street ball with were on it.  He said that during a school assembly the coach approached him about playing on the team.  During a home game, everyone was there to watch him play, including his father.  Darrel said he was up to bat, and the pitcher was throwing a wicked curve ball that looked like the biggest ball he had ever seen. It was coming fast.  Strike 1, strike 2, then he figured another curve ball was coming his way, and made an adjustment.  Darrel said he busted that ball and hit a triple. (As he tells me, he is acting it out as though back in high school playing baseball that day.  Such joy on his face!)

Time is also measured in periods.  It was reported that during the time-period 1946 to 1964, 71.6 million baby boomers were born in the US.  Darrel mentioned, that during the time-period 1968 to 1975, the US entered into its longest war of that period and civil unrest was pervasive in politics and everyday life. An online statistical data reported there were 2.84m COVID-19 related deaths Worldwide during this 2020-2021 time-period.  So many were lost in such a short span of time. Saying goodbye to a loved one probably causes us to ponder time the most.  For many, that is when we declare a lifetime is just not enough time.

As we age, Darrel and I have new perspectives on many aspects of life.  Lately, we have been talking about time, its significance and, our appreciation of it.  Our friend Guy likes to remind us of time passing by with birthday calls.   He is on the other end of the phone slowly saying, “tick-tock.”  Thank you, Guy, for those gentle reminders.

Darrel says we now have more time behind us than we do in front of us. To that, I say maybe.   What about time travel?  (Hold on, that is a completely different story!)  Either way, we both agree that as we age, we would like to intentionally make the most of and enjoy our time.  We look for opportunities to be of service to others.  We share our lessons learned over time as a mentoring tool for the younger generation.  We pray that over time, all will be forgiven. We hope that when our time is up, we will be fondly remembered.  Until then, we are spending the rest of our precious time as though it were money, not to be stored away but to be lavished upon ourselves and others.  Bucket lists here we come!

Great teachings about time come from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 in the Bible.  It teaches there is a time and season for every activity under heaven.  There is a time to: be born and die; plant and pluck up; kill and heal; break down and build up; weep and laugh; mourn and dance; cast stones and gather them; embrace and refrain; get and lose; keep and throw away; tear and mend; be silent and speak; love and hate; have war and be at peace.

On that note, I will not take up any more of your time.♥

Amanda

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