June 13th, 2011
On my fiftieth birthday years ago, my mother, God rest her soul, asked me how fast fifty years had gone by. I said “Like an eye blink” . She paused for a moment and said “News flash, seventy two years goes by like an eye blink too!”. Your life and mine are flying by and in an eye blink will be done, for this round anyway.
We kick our spurs into time when we are young, galloping as fast as we can to be an adult. When we are adults we kick our spurs into time every Monday morning, hoping to get to the weekend faster than last week. We rush our workday to get home. We rush our meal to get to the TV. We rush our spring hoping to get to our summer vacation a little faster this time.
And then it happens. We get terribly sick or someone we love gets terribly sick and we stop kicking our spurs into time. We pull on the reins. We know it won’t stop but we want to slow it down. We want these moments to count, to mean something, to be special. We notice the buzzing of a fly, the handiwork of the blanket, the temperature of the room. We notice how kind the people around us are. We are sad but we are also aware and it feels different.
Time doesn’t slow down but we can and therein lies the gift. You and I are the ones who set the speed of our lives. Time is a constant. How we use it isn’t. Enjoy the time you have today. Make it count. There is no place to rush to. There is just this time and you. Stop spurring time and just trot. You’ll see, love and appreciate more.
When people say that they had a very good time, they usually say that they had the time of their lives. It was always there. They just noticed it. I wish you the time of your life today.
(c)2011 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com