There are only two weeks left in October and I find myself pondering (once again) at what point time got away from me. Wasn’t it August a few weeks ago? Where does the time go?

I am fascinated with the phenomenon of the perception of the passage of time. When you hope time will pass quickly it seems to drag on (does anyone else remember being 6 ½…talk about a long six months to 7…uff dah!).

Yet, when you are seemingly paying less attention to it, time flies.

This is a topic that I keep coming back to in my thoughts. As my children get older (which has become a clear reminder that I too am aging), I see the years go by in the seeming blink of an eye. And the moments – the moments you get to hang on to in your mind – they really are just snapshots…snippets of time that you were able to capture and retain. But time cannot be halted…it marches on – brutally, mercifully, inevitably.

As my friend Mary would say, “It is what it is…until it isn’t.” I guess there really is no room for complaint today about my feeling that time is fleeting. Part of being alive and present in one’s life requires recognition that indeed, time matters – the moments matter. To be given the time to be with the folks you care about, to do the work you enjoy, and to be a part of this big crazy club called “humanity” – it is a gift. Time is a gift.

I think some days that I have been a poor recipient of the gift. I am not always appreciative of the power of it. I am not always attentive to the true utility of it. I am not always as grateful and gracious as I should be about the gift of time.  I am reminded that not everyone gets this gift and it should not be taken for granted.

Time flies…yes, but at some point one’s time ends and the real pity in the gift is the lack of recognition in the recipient that it is limited.

So this morning I shall take a moment before the week officially begins and remember that the years, the months, the weeks, the days, the minutes – they are a gift. And I hope my use of the gift ultimately embodies the spirit in which it was given. And in the last minute of my blog today I share with you a quote from Steve Jobs (the co-founder of Apple) that I think is worthy of my time to share.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Make all your minutes count.

Day one hundred and six of the new forty – obla di obla da

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