Sorry, We Tried Everything

I think I was about twelve when I got my first Timex for Christmas. It had a white band with gold trim and I loved it. I am right-handed, so I wore my watch on my left wrist. That is until I learned to drive.

My first car was a 1967 Volkswagen Bus. I loved it. All my friends could pile into it and I loved driving around town with the windows wide open and my left hand resting outside the window as I drove along. That's about the time I started to fear that I might lose my watch; the clasp on my favorite one, this one was pink, was loose. That's when I started wearing my watch on right hand - to keep from losing my watch out the Bus window.

I think I wore watches on my right wrist pretty consistently until I purchased my first cell phone only ten short years ago. I figured I always carried a phone with me and it kept the most accurate time of all, so why bother wearing a watch? And that has been my state of thinking ever since. Truth be told, everywhere I turn, there is a timepiece that taunts me. The microwave oven and stove top in my kitchen. The lower right corner of the three desktop computers and one netbook that keep me occupied most days. The menu on my DVR. The time display on my work phone that sits on my desk. The clock over my dining room table and the one in my car. I no longer have an alarm clock as my mobile phone now does that duty, too. So, no clock in my bedroom - this has actually helped me to sleep better, as I no longer wake simply to see what time it is.

The era in which we live requires that we live by the rules of civilization. Some of which are arriving on time, leaving when appropriate, not monopolizing all of someone's time, limiting conversations, scheduling and re-scheduling, starting and finishing projects in a timely manner, meeting deadlines, and returning calls at the requested time. We are driven by time, by the awareness of time. And if you are like me, at all - the awareness of time is one of the most difficult things to master.

We rush here and there. We arrive late and we are judged, too early and we judge others. It is a fine line to balance upon - and yet, we must. Time is a precious resource that is not renewable, and yet, we try. Saving time in a bottle, a wrinkle in time, a stitch in time, step in time, somewhere in time, I had the time of my life.

Obviously, not the first time this has been discussed.

Balance comes to those who have lived with regret before and choose to no longer dwell there. Release regret and balance what you've got left before the Doc stands in the doorway saying, "I'm sorry, we tried everything, we just couldn't save it."

by rayannethorn