Slice of Life: What I Do With My Time

 On Tuesdays, Two Writing Teachers hosts the Slice of Life. Everyone is welcome to share writing and comment on others in this special community. 

  

 

As my youngest daughter closes in on her 22nd birthday, I can't help but remember the event that changed my life that happened 10 days before she was born. May 17, 2002. My father was on crutches due to his recent hip replacement. (Hip replacements have come a long way.) Since some prankster had smashed the mailbox with a baseball bat, my brother, a doctor, was in my parents' basement fixing it. Sometimes, control is a tough thing to give up, and my father couldn't, so he decided to head downstairs to supervise. Except he started with his foot instead of his crutch and went headfirst down the flight to a cement floor. Even now, the faint bloodstain is there if you know where to look. We all spent the summer supporting his TBI rehabilitation. And he spent the rest of his life-- 17 years-- with significant and life-altering conditions. 

My husband is now exactly the age my father was when he fell, and this crossroads has impacted me. My word for 2024 is time. It's been a powerful one so far, nudging me to think about what I do with my time and how I plan for the future, nudging me to live with heightened awareness of how quickly time passes and how easy it is to think I'll do something someday-- and then not do it. 

During an on-line PD session this afternoon, one of the participants came on early, and was writing and working as I welcomed her in. She apologized for multi-tasking, and I complimented her use of the extra few minutes. Then, we talked about time and how much we can both do given the luxury of a few extra minutes. 

Funny how I can do so much in such short spurts of time-- and 22 years ago feels like it just happened... and like it was centuries ago. 

Slice of Life: Revisiting the Possibility of No

On Tuesdays, Two Writing Teachers hosts the Slice of Life. Everyone is welcome to share writing and comment on others in this special community. 

  

 

"Yes," I said. 

"Sure, I can do that," I said. 

"No problem," I said. "I can get it done."

This afternoon, I received a text from someone, and without explicitly reminding me, she reminded me of a long-standing responsibility I have to get something other than those referenced in the first three responses of this slice. Could she see my reaction to the text through the distance between our phones? Thankfully, the world of technology hasn't figured out how to teleport a reaction from a textee to a texter. Therefore, I had the luxury of figuring out my response. Should I fess up that it was good she reminded me (even though technically she hadn't...) or should I pretend and play along that I would NEVER forget a long-standing responsibility?

I don't know why it's so hard for me to lie-- misrepresent?!?-- I just can't. I know, I know...that's a good thing. 

Maybe I need to rethink the three responses and give "No, I really can't" a try. Or maybe it's almost June and time to refill my tank. My One Little Word for 2024 is time, and I really am trying to be aware of how I spend it. Really, I am.