To quote a favorite song, “Time is fleeting…”  And no matter how warped your reality is, we all have to face the inevitable that it will eventually stop for us.  I believe that is why I am a “saver” that unique albeit obnoxious breed of human who keeps memories, dreams, items and people because they eventually will  be needed.  This does not however include my purse which carries everything that will eventually be needed from ax, saw, vodka, crayons and eyeliner with a few toys and a word search tucked into its TI/HI and weight of 25 pounds on a good day.

How many times have you gone to get something only to discover you have run out of it?  This is truly frustrating when you know you bought two at one time, but now can’t remember when the last one was used.  Yes, Time has a way of catching up with us in everything we do. I remember my father finding this out once, when he discovered an antique watch he had was worth a good sum of money.  He dashed through the house looking for where he had put it, only to have my mother laugh telling him he had given it a grandchild as a toy years before.  He fumbled, fumed and forgot –
Things are what they are in this life and whether we forget to replace them at the store, or remember when they brought us pride, happiness or satisfaction, they only exist in this life as something to help us along, one way or another.  People on the other hand, are far more complex, and exist to help make us who we are in this life – one way or another, and when we forget or decide we don’t need them anymore, it changes us forever whether we will admit it or not.
This week, after a chance discovery on the Internet, photos of my family appeared.  I immediately told those around me and contacted my family out of state, about the odd time warp of 42 years staring me in the face of my laptop.  My parents would have gotten such a kick out of it!  I can only imagine my father, since he told everyone he was “on a satellite” after I did a web page for him almost 15 years ago, on his 90th birthday.  What would he have said about these?  Mom would have been intrigued, her mind clicked with the computer age even though her own was past 90, and she would have emailed the link to friends.  It was sad they weren’t here to share the unique moment, but even sadder when I think of those in my life who  don’t share even the everyday ones anymore.
I wish there was a way for the hands of time to grasp onto the hands of those people in our lives that matter, the ones have made a difference in who we are, and what we have shared.  Holding tightly together there couldn’t be a way to just “assume” they will always be in your life, that we could “always” share a story or moment and saddest of all, that they will “be there” when we need them.   Funny, how time is never looked at in the reverse, such as maybe “they” need you, they “are there” waiting to be needed and they “always” want to listen.  As I look at these old pictures, I do see both sides, and sadly the only hand I have to grasp is my own now, in prayer thankful for the times family and friends were with me, and what they shared and added to my life.
People in our life are now reduced to names on a computer screen; letters are rare in the mail, phones ring less and when they do it is from our pocket with just a quick question, and children communicate with little hearts and smiles in text messages once or twice a week, a far cry from the hugs we taught them as babies.  And all the while, each day moves ever faster towards the finish line of our existence in this life, no one really taking the time or sounding the alarm that once we are gone, we are gone.  Just like the bottle of shampoo you go to get, assuming it was there, but forgetting it was already used, no different than the treasures of love and laughter from someone who once shared your life.  The difference of course is you can replace the shampoo at the market or have the Internet deliver it to your door to save time.
Instead of taking that moment tonight to be thankful for all you have been given, why not start the day and be thankful for what you are going to receive, and then go out and make it happen.  Don’t take for granted those people in your life who bake what you love, fix what you break, laugh when you talk or hug when you hurt or never once left you when you needed them, are going to be there tomorrow.   If by the grace of God they are, then you have yet another chance to include them, love them and learn from them and then end result will be time well spent between the “yours” – “mine” and “hours”