The Value of Time

"Graysen - please get off the table," I utter.  Amazingly he listens.   It's taken months to get to this point.  There were many moments I am sure our neighbors questioned both our parenting and our health practices.  Graysen could routinely be found atop our dining room table... completely buck naked.

It's finally sinking in.  Persistence to the nth degree has finally paid off.  We are on the last leg of the baby stage of our life.  Warily, we are moving on.

Every stage we move through is bringing a series of emotions.  Worries and concerns creep in.  The "unknowns" overwhelm.  Options and abilities open up.  Breaths of relief are sighed.  Memories are all that remains.

Some of these memories are crisp, clear and vivid - others fade.  I gain new perspectives on these as experience teaches me lessons... Lessons which no amount of internet research or book reading can reveal.

My lesson of the year: I am learning to value my time.  

The time I spent being persistent in removing a naked child from atop my table was worth it.  The time I spent rocking my child for hours in the dark nights was worth it.  The time I probed my children for what's really wrong when they offered no words, was worth it.  The time spent preparing meals, washing clothes, and wiping snotty noses was worth it.

I value the time of here and now, and I'm learning it has no definite length.  

My own mother, for whom we knew the days were numbered, was one day gone.  There is no partly gone or coming back.  It's final.  It's done.  She's gone, and I will never in my life on earth see her, feel her, or hear her again.  I still grieve that loss.

But...

My time with her was worth it.   I have the most wonderful, perfect, and powerful memories to live on with.

Money can't buy you time, as it has no monetary value.  Yes, you can pay for something in increments of minutes, hours, or days, but you cannot buy time itself.  Its only bi-product - which has any real value - is memories.  

Money may make aspects of life easier, but it complicates things.  

Belongings can be treasured, but clutter spaces.  

Memories are all you leave behind, and all you take with you.  

Cherish today.  Make today memorable.  Tomorrow may never come.

Your time is valuable.