Time

Time

There never seems to be enough. Time is a measurement, what we don’t know is how much time each of us have. So many of us claim there wasn’t enough time. Time for a visit, time to get something done or simply time for yourself. What are you doing right now? Time is a choice that we prioritize what we choose to do. I make time to work, it’s something that I need to do. Over the last four years I made time to work and take classes to earn an associate degree. My point is that if something is important, you will make the time.

The very day that day officially retired, and the parents were moving into their new home was the very day that we found out that mom had ovarian cancer. Mom began the treatment and made me feel like she was going to beat it. She lost her battle six months later. Because I thought we still had lots of time I didn’t visit as much as I could have. I refused to go to the hospital when she was stuck there for days at a time. Don’t get me wrong, there are still some good memories that occurred during that time. I was invited by a friend to attend my first NASCAR race at Michigan International Speedway. I was going to be camping there the whole weekend. By the end of the first full day I had managed to get severely sunburned. On Monday when I returned to work I asked the boss if I could wear shorts because the burns hurt when my pants brushed against my legs. When he saw how bad the burns were, I was sent to the ER and found out I had 2nd degree burns on my legs. I visited mom shortly after that and before I could even get in the door, from the couch that she was laying came flying across the room, two containers of suntan lotion. They hit me square in the chest and before they hit the ground she asked, ever hear of these?

The last time I saw my mom was on New Years Day 1998. She was upset because Dad had done all the preparation for our New Year feast. The gravy didn’t come out as well as he had hoped, and I remember Mom asking for the turkey juice instead of gravy. Mom passed on Jan 14, 1998 and those two weeks before she passed, I never called or visited. There was time to do so and I decided not to. Time, never enough time, yet there was, and I didn’t use it.

While I did better when dad became ill, I could have still done better. I did visit him in the hospital when he was there, and I made time to drive him to one of his appointments. I always thought there would be more time, heck, dad was like a superhero, nothing could stop him, not even age. Time, never enough time.

Your family and friends are important. Still so many of us will put family and friends on the back burner, myself included. We continue with our routines, talk about getting together and then it’s too late. From personal experience, I have regrets that I didn’t visit with my parents more. I put other things ahead of that, other things that now don’t seem so important.

We all have friends that we say we are gonna get together when we find time. TIME NEEDS TO BE FOUND! Call your friends, get together with your family, it’s time!