My oldest daughter graduated from Hopkins High School on June 7th and as chance had it, it was my turn to blog. I thought, “what an easy assignment”…First born, graduation, advice for the future…easy, easy, easy. Yet, a word kept surfacing and needling me that had larger implications and wasn’t exactly on the subject of graduation…TIME. Over the past several years I have become acutely aware of TIME, broken into seemingly smaller and smaller segments that evaporate quicker and quicker. I understand that I am not the first “aging” person to recognize that TIME seems to be speeding up. As a matter of fact the subject of TIME seems to be a running dialog that I encounter, unsolicited, in almost every facet of my life. Why does this phenomenon of exist? We are planners, and we plan not for the nebulous “future”, but rather we set plans that are hardly capricious, no, we set specific strategies that are calculated 6, 12, 24, 36 months in advance and our brains have become quite adjusted and wired to accommodate this self-inflicted TIME-warp. Think about it…whether the plans and subsequent implementation dates for meal pattern changes or the presidential election in November that started a year ago, our world is constantly looking to the future and beyond.
So the advice that I gave to my 18 year old daughter is the same that I offer here… The need for planning will not change, but we can change ourselves to recognize that the most important thing that can happen is that-which-is-happening-now…PLUS “never give back your vacation days”…easier said than done but I have yet to receive an achievement medal for Most Vacation Days Not Taken. Recently I had a conversation with a person that I respect and trust and the statement “Live Rich and Die Poor” came up during a discussion about purchasing a family boat…I understand that the money philosophy is somewhat tongue in cheek, but after applying viewpoint of TIME, perhaps it is a life mantra that we all should try…Congratulations Shelby, your Dad is proud of you.
