“There’s only one thing more precious than our time and that’s who we spend it on.” Leo Christopher

I needed to get some of the kids passports renewed. I had lunch with a friend to verify the photos. She got to the part that asked how long she'd know the kids and said 'So what is it? Nine years and....nine months?' I was stunned. She's a good friend but what I considered a new friend. Yet apparently I'd known her a decade. How had that happened? And why didn't it feel that long?

As I often seem to say these days, when did I get so old?

Be thankful of the people that see you through the difficult times as well as the fun. Make sure you acknowledge what they do for you. Suddenly you discover they've been there all along.

One last little thought on time, is a lovely little quote that calms me in the panic of this disappearing life. “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” (an anonymous quote). Make sure your flight crew are good to have along for the ride. Make it all count!

Linking short & sweet for #MLSTL

Last 3 months

The last three months have flown so fast. I look at the diary, a mess of scribbles, trying to work out what I'm going to discuss with you. We've had picnics at the beach, a weekend away with friends, been to concerts and shows galore.




I've been on outings with the kids to zoos, mini golfing and exhibitions. (Linking this old shot with #SaturdayCritters)

I've explored areas of Sydney I've never been to before (and Port Kembla & outskirts of Sydney)

I've had two indulgence trips to Melbourne for the day and Adelaide overnight, for an exhibition and concert respectively.

We've had two days out on boats, and some ferry trips to beaches.




The kids have been busy with all the school related stuff, plus jobs and learning to drive...ahhh, It never ends.









Yet if you ask me what I've been up to, I'd reply 'Nothing'. It's only looking at the photos for this post that I realise how much fun I've had. I've had a good three months but nondescript in the grand scheme of things, though minute by minute is generally enjoyable and that, my dear friends, has to be enough.








I'll leave you with this quote, that has me thinking, maybe I need to work out how to squash even more fun in!

“Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.” 
― Jean de La Bruyère, Les Caractères

How would you sum up the last three months?

Have you been #LovingLife?
Linking with #StayClassyMama

Do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.

I think a lot about time - in fact, I've written a number of posts about the passing of time, the importance of time and the need for more time - which I will in part regurgitate here. Some of you will recognise the title (the Benjamin Franklin quote, as I repeat it often). It's such an important lesson, and needs to be repeated often.

We were on holidays, and moved every two to three days. Instead of making the trip seem harried, it seemed to stretch time. Even a two night stay seemed like an eternity, and the previous destination seemed a lifetime ago. It would be lovely if we could control the fluidity of time. Make the hard times fly by, and the precious moments stretch out to savour. Alas, I'm not sure how it all works, but I know we have no control over time.

We do have control over what we do with our time. Many years ago I wrote a post asking Santa to give me the one thing I needed, more time:

1. Time to see all the wonders of the world, the lava fall into the ocean in Hawaii, the Pyramids, Antarctica in all it's glory, the craziness of Vegas, the animals of the Galapagos Islands and everything else I've yet to lay eyes on.

2. Time to understand all the marvels of science. I was never very interested in science at school, and now as I realise how little I know, I find I'm the one asking the questions at the Observatory, or pausing in fascination at the Powerhouse. I'd like to truly know it all, not to show off but because every new fact is such an intriguing joy of discovery.

3. Time to enjoy with my friends. We rush from social event  to social event, and it becomes tiring - the looming dinner impinges on the leisurely lunch. The pressure to see people takes away from the pleasure of actually seeing them. I want to fit everyone in more frequently, and being able to enjoy it at the time.

4. Time with my children. They are getting busier, so our time together when the outside world isn't breaking in is getting less and less. I want time to engage and play with them, without thinking about the washing or the next place we have to be or the other people I need to be talking to. I just want to enjoy being with them, and the people they're becoming.

5. Time to get stuff done, and done well. I am falling apart in the multitasking dept, and I feel like the mouse in the spinning wheel, getting nowhere. I am racing through a 'to do' list but nothing seems to get done. I want time to get it all done and feel organised in the process.

All that still stands true for me, but realistically, I won't get more time. I don't even know how much time I have left. So it is up to me to make better use of my time. Triage my life and make time. If you have found yourself waiting out time in a job or situation that makes you unhappy, it's time to move on. If you have big dreams, it's time to get started. Meatloaf said it best (bet you never thought you'd read that sentence?!) "If you're only killing time, it will kill you right back". No more of the "I'll just wait until...." It's more now or never.

The most precious resource we have is time, so it's time to make it count. "Time is a gift, given to you, given to give you the time you need, the time you need to have the time of your life." (Norton Juster, Phantom Tollbooth)

PS I did get to Hawaii, but the lava wasn't falling into the ocean. However I saw many other amazing things so can't complain!

Linking with #2ndontheSecond

Time Conquers All

I saw this clock the other day and thought 'How frickin' depressing!' It really made my mood sink. About 15 minutes later, after stomping around in vile agitation in my head, I remembered, I usually thought of that as a positive notion, and had in fact written a post about it previously.

So I did a poll on Facebook (before you read other comments, let me know if you see this as positive or negative type of thing), and there were only 3 negatives in a sea of positives.

That is the lesson. Perception is 99% of the problem, or as Jack Sparrow would say "The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem." There is no reality, only perception. If we can't change things, we need to work on our headspace about it.

I was watching the Mindy Project and someone said 'Bad things are always going to happen to you, you can't change that. But it's how you handle it that matters, and you handled that pretty well'.

So I am focusing on the Niki Lauda life lesson, because 'all the girls love Niki Lauda'...

Linking up this old post for #lifethisweek as I needed to reread it myself. I'm finding the elasticity of time in lockdown very difficult - it drags like an eternity and yet i'm running out of time to get things done each day? It's strange. There's a world imploding around me and I'm not able to do much to make it right. I want to, it's just not something I can fix. The good news is, that in time it will heal and I need to focus on that thought. I am thankful that ultimately, time will heal this.

 

Beginnings

The best thing about beginnings is that you don't know that's what it is. It slips by unheralded. It's just a new person you've met, a new activity you've tried or something for the first time, so new that you don't even know it's a habit yet.

It also means that at any point in time, a path can change. Like at the end of Casablanca, where the enemies become friends, "This could be the start of a beautiful friendship", it is the "This could be..." moment. Remember that any moment can be transformed into a "This could be..." moment, if you choose to make it.

The bad doesn't have to stay bad, the difficult can change, and life can get better. You don't have to change everything, just make one choice in a moment. Only time will prove it a new beginning.

“The chief beauty about time
is that you cannot waste it in advance.
The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you,
as perfect, as unspoiled,
as if you had never wasted or misapplied
a single moment in all your life.
You can turn over a new leaf every hour
if you choose.”
― Arnold Bennett

Linking up with 2nd on the Second I like this post because it reminds me that any new venture can start right this second, the moment I decide to start it. I don't need to put it off until I 'have enough money, have the kids back in school, have blah blah (insert whatever procrastinating excuse I'm using not to start).
As Dr Seuss would say "Sometimes you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory". So go and make today special!

A single moment

I've been thinking about this blog theme, and I'm coming up blank. Which is not to say I've done everything right, but more that I don't have something gnawing at me to change. I am greatly flawed and I've made mistakes. That is life.

If I could change something, I'd change the way I think about things, the way I react to things and the way I bottle things up.

If I could go back to a single moment to relive, there are too many great ones to narrow it down to just one - I've had a life time of fabulous moments, both shared and alone. Visited a million places I'd return to in a flash, just to see again. Laughed a thousand laughs, and smiled a trillion smiles, all worthy of revisiting for the joy experienced.

I have too many precious memories that I hold on to dearly, too many to say one is more worthy than another.

So I'm opting out of this prompt, though I will read with great interest what others say. I've enjoyed the exercise of trawling through my memories, only to decide that the task is too difficult, that the choice is too great to single out merely one. And that fills me with a great contentment.

This is not the quote I was after to finish with, that still eludes me, but it will do:

“Life is not made up of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years, but of moments. You must experience each one before you can appreciate it.”
― Sarah Ban Breathnach

Linking up with Thankful Thursdays

If I could turn back time, if I could find a way...

Now that I've given you all a very nasty earworm, I'll move onto my journey if I could time travel...I would travel back, long, long ago to have a little chat to a man, and try to change the course of human history. That man would be Noah, and the conversation would go a little like this:

Me: Noah, we need to talk. You are about to make a huge mistake. I know you've been charged with a task, but you need to reconsider...maybe "accidently" just leave two creatures off - or even just one creature off really, the female head louse. It's only tiny, it will barely be noticed. And in many centuries to come, I won't spend a good part of my life coming the f%$#ers out, night after night, causing floods of tears that quite possibly will require me to build an ark of my own soon...

Noah [looking doubtful]: Errr...

Me: You know what will happen, if you let them on, they'll be in your hair, then your wife's, then the kids - and you haven't even got one of those fine-toothed, metal combs. You'll just have to itch for forty days and forty nights (or is that Moses?). Anywho, it won't be pretty, but it will be too late!

Noah [nodding pensively]: Hmmm.

Me: And one last thing, don't forget the Unicorns - and don't eat them!

I bet that earworm seems preferable now to the head scratching some of you will be doing at the mere mention of head lice...


Also, if you like time travel movies, and don't mind subtitles, I liked this one: 11 A.M. It's a very simple idea that they let play out. You should be able to get it at the video shop (or wherever you down load movies from if you are younger than my 107 years)

Dear Santa,

I was chuffed to be tagged for My Christmas List by Always Josefa (and then a little alarmed as I'm racing against the clock this week, having over committed myself to too many things) so I pondered through the night and I realised I don't need anything but like the Hatter, there is a relationship I need to repair, and that is with time.

"If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter, 'you wouldn't talk about wasting it. It's him...I dare say you never spoke to Time!...Now if you keep on good terms with him, he'd do almost anything you liked with the clock....you could keep it to half-past one as long as you liked."

So Santa, what I need is more time.

1. Time to see all the wonders of the world, the lava fall into the ocean in Hawaii, the Pyramids, Antarctica in all it's glory, the craziness of Vegas, the animals of the Galapagos Islands and everything else I've yet to lay eyes on.

2. Time to understand all the marvels of science. I was never very interested in science at school, and now as I realise how little I know, I find I'm the one asking the questions at the Observatory, or pausing in fascination at the Powerhouse. I'd like to truly know it all, not to show off but because every new fact is such an intriguing joy of discovery.

3. Time to enjoy with my friends. We rush from social event  to social event, and it becomes tiring - the looming dinner impinges on the leisurely lunch. The pressure to see people takes away from the pleasure of actually seeing them. I want to fit everyone in more frequently, and being able to enjoy it at the time.

4. Time with my children. They are getting busier, so our time together when the outside world isn't breaking in is getting less and less. I want time to engage and play with them, without thinking about the washing or the next place we have to be or the other people I need to be talking to. I just want to enjoy being with them, and the people they're becoming.

5. Time to get stuff done, and done well. I am falling apart in the multitasking dept, and I feel like the mouse in the spinning wheel, getting nowhere. I am racing through a 'to do' list but nothing seems to get done. I want time to get it all done and feel organised in the process.

Now I have not been a good girl this year, so I am assuming Santa won't be bringing me anything on my list. I have, however, got my own pressie (never one to be disappointed) and am wearing it as I type...something I'm trying to work on.

Perhaps what I should ask for is help with my unhealthy obsession with Ron Swanson (it's his saying from Parks and Recreation)? That's even weird for me.

So Santa, see what you can do, or I will continue to try to follow my mantra from the genius of the Phantom Toll-Booth: "Time is a gift, given to you, given to give you the time you need, the time you need to have the time of your life. "

PS As I got that shirt last year, I've sneakily updated my gift to myself to be a pair of roller skates - my 5 year old is also getting a pair from Santa so we will skate everywhere, like Rollergirl but without the porno connotations and with clothes on (for those old enough to remember Boogie Nights - that movie is now 16 years old!! Seriously! I am aging in hyperdrive!) Actually, Santa, while I'm asking, chuck in a few extra years - it would be great not to be so old.

What's on your Christmas list?

Linking up this old post with #XmasLinky because sadly not a lot has changed and Time is still the thing I want more of. Or maybe I should be glad I still feel this way?.