I Was Thinking... How Much Time?

During our lifetime we tend to accumulate a lot of stuff. When my wife and I were first married we started out with almost nothing for our first apartment. We got a bedroom set as a wedding gift from one set of parents and a dining room set from the other. We bought a couch, but the rest of the furnishings were either hand me downs or mismatched garage sale items.

Now fast forward 50 years. Our biggest problem now is deciding what to do with all the stuff we amassed through the years. Somehow, somewhere along life’s journey we decided we needed “things” that now seem to clutter our lives. But slowly but surely, we are sorting and trying to find new homes for as much as we can.

We learned all too well when our parents passed away that those possessions held so dearly didn’t really matter that much. An auction in one afternoon disposed of a lifetime of items in quick order. A lot of what had been of value to the previous owner ended up as trash in a big dumpster. It was proof of the old adage, “you can’t take it with you.”

As with most couples that begin their lives together, our financial resources were limited. Many times, there seemed to be more left of the month than there was money. But in our retirement, with social security, a retirement plan, good investments, and some inheritance, we are comfortable. When asked by our children what we’d like for Christmas we are at a loss of knowing what we need or want.

The commodities of possessions and financial resources are variable. Sometimes we don’t have enough and at other times we have more than we need. Throughout our lives we can try to increase or decrease them, and we struggle to reach a comfortable balance. We exert a lot of effort in an effort to control these parts of our lives. Yet there is one factor we often ignore since we have no way to control it. That is time.

In the last six weeks, we have either attended funerals or sent sympathy cards to the families of six people we knew. Some of the deaths were not unexpected because they followed after a lengthy illness, but several were complete surprises. The ages ranged from 50 years old to past 90, but to most of the families, it was still too soon. While we can plan for the purchase of that new house or the long-awaited trip to Europe, we never know if we will have enough time to achieve our goal. Time is the one variable we don’t control.

As a person fresh out of school, your whole life seems to be in front of you. You can’t imagine growing old. There is so much you want to accomplish, and it seems like you have all the time in the world to get it done.

However, as a teacher for 35 years, I learned the harsh reality that even for the very young, there is no guarantee of how much time you have in your life ahead. I attended too many funerals for students who never even got a good start.

For several of the funerals or wakes I attended, one thing was true. The person who had died probably was still making plans. There were still relationships they wanted to nourish and things they hoped to do — someday.

But as it is true for all of us, we don’t know how many more somedays we have. Every day is a blessing and the most valuable of all resources. Time, that variable factor, is never guaranteed and something we should never waste.

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Photo: I was thinking Ron Albright