Marking Time

Marking Time. Calendars, water clocks and sundials all mark time. Spring is a season that fools me into marking time faster. Waiting for that first perfect daffodil, that first perfect spring rain misting the plants and grass, that first warm sunspot to linger in as I go about my errands. I wait, I wait impatiently trying to read the celestial signs -- is it going a hot spring or a cold summer, a dry season or one full of wet shoes. Kids mark time too. Only in the spring of their lives they mark time with going out with their friends or as they grow older with going into the army or to college. Marking time with dances, marking time with college applications, marking time to have fun. Now with the kids growing older, I realize that releasing them to be themselves is perhaps the biggest gift I can give them. The gift of them finding themselves. So yes, mark time, measure it however you want, but enjoy each second deeply. Otherwise, you just fooling yourself. Marking time but forgetting to live. What a waste...