Time.
Time is a non-spatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It can be your enemy; it can be your friend. We are obsessed with it. We attempt to defy its passing and sometimes we wish it away. There is never enough of it to do what you need to do. It can be on your side, you can have too much of it on your hands, and it can appear stand still. You can kill time, spend time, save time, waste time, do time, make good time, have a bad time, ask for the time.
Time.
Well, for me, time has screeched to a grinding halt. I start vacation in a couple of days. My son left for vacation in Newfoundland the week school was out and my wife joined him there a couple of weeks ago. That’s ok, I thought. I have lots to do. I have a busy time at work plus there are some chores I want to tackle around the house without the added pressure of attempting to keep an orderly household while I do it. I had lots of time to myself. I had lots of time to chip away at things I needed to do. I was going to enjoy my time.
That was then, this is now.
Now, I can’t wait for the time to pass. Call me a sap, but I can’t wait to see my family again. There’s only a couple of days left before I hit the road for the rock. But as I wait for the time to come, I can hear the tick-tock of every clock I see. Each second-hand-click resonates in my ears like the footsteps of a Jurassic creature in a Spielberg movie. Boom…. boom…. boom…. The trek to St. John’s via car and boat takes a full 24 hours from here, but I can’t wait for it to start. I can’t wait to start counting kilometers instead of minutes. The anticipation is tugging at me, pulling my eyes toward my watch every 36.2 seconds. I tap my watch; surely there is something wrong with it. Time can’t be moving that slowly.
Then I think… three weeks from now, I’ll be back at work. Back at the old grindstone. I’ll be wishing I enjoyed the slow ticking of time when it was on my side. Once time has run out, I’ll wonder where it went so quickly. But at least then, I won’t be alone. My family will be back and time will return to its elusive state. There will be good times and they will fly by too quickly.
At least we’ll be spending it together.
