All in Good Time
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L-R: My mother, my two aunts and my grandmother |
It was a family joke to tell them an event was starting an
hour ahead of when it was actually scheduled, to increase the chances that they might be on
time. They eventually caught on to these schemes and continued to arrive habitually late. I grew
up thinking it was just a family characteristic to be late. Except that it
caused a lot of arguments. My mother says she hated attending weddings as a
child because my grandmother would arrive just as the bride was walking down the aisle. Or worse, she remembers arriving as the
wedding party was walking out of the church and the wedding was over before they even arrived.
When I went off to college, being late was no longer an
issue since it was simply not tolerated. My school was meticulous about rules
and warning bells rang throughout the dorms, alerting us for mealtimes,
class times, curfew times and just about every other time imaginable. There was
no need to set my clocks fast while I was there. Actually, I didn't even need a clock my entire four years there, as I just timed my life by the tolling of the bells. But when I got a place of my own, I reverted to
my family tradition of setting my clocks 15 minutes ahead. I especially liked glancing at
the clock in my car, knowing if I was stuck in traffic on my way to
work that I had 15 minutes more
before I was really late.
But a few weeks ago as I reset the clocks in my house to
daylight savings time, I decided I was going to live my life in real-time. Each
clock in my house was set to slightly different variations, with my bedroom
clock advanced a puzzling 23 minutes ahead, causing me to use considerable brain
power to figure out the correct time. I wasn't sure why I needed to go to such lengths to avoid the actual time. My cell phone and computer reflected the
actual time and it didn’t seem to alarm me, so maybe I could cope with viewing the
actual time on all of my clocks. I considered this a companion step to keeping my New Year's resolution for last year.
I decided I was tired of not being a morning
person. I would snooze the alarm. Wait until the last minute to get out of bed.
And I was always racing the clock to get to work. To encourage myself with a
little reward, I started brewing coffee at home instead of at the office. I
started looking forward to my cup of coffee and a few minutes of Scripture
study before heading out the door. After shocking myself the first few mornings
of actually doing it, I started to enjoy it. Some days I had more minutes than
others, but making myself get up earlier changed my outlook. And proved I could
really change if I wanted to.
I think time has run out for me to use the excuse that being late just gets passed on from generation to generation. Now I’m trying to be mostly on
time. But from time to time, I am still late. I think it's about time that I live in real-time. As time goes on, maybe I’ll figure out if I was behind the
times, losing 15 minutes of my life or did I get with the times, and gain 15
minutes? Maybe I was actually ahead of my time. I guess only time will tell.
What a thoroughly entertaining article - I loved it! I have known several people who set their clocks ahead to be 'on time"! We had someone in one of our churches who had 'their time' and the 'cow's time'.....rather than just getting up an hour earlier/later, etc., they kept with the one clock year round on 'cow's time' for the animals feeding, etc. So funny! I applaud you for living in 'real time' and of making the most of it!! Great article and I loved the picture of your mom!! You continue to amaze me with your talent and your insight!!
ReplyDeleteSharon,
DeleteCow's time -- I love it -- I find it so interesting to hear how others manage time -- it's a funny thing! Thank you so much (as always) for your encouraging words!