Once Upon a Time (in Kuwait)

Once upon a time, a hopeful daddy-to-be had a little time to kill. Here are his thoughts...

I’ve been thinking more about time lately, as I seem to be more aware of it’s presence since I’ve been deployed. So, here are some random thoughts I jotted down because, well, I had some time to kill.

Time goes by so quickly, or drags on at nearly an intolerably slow snail’s pace. Time becomes the beginning or the ending of an event, such as time to get ready for work or time to quit talking and go to sleep. Time is on our side or works against us. Sometimes we get lucky, and find the time to do what we’ve been meaning to do, or are in the right place at the right time. But if we’re really lucky, time seems to stand still during spectacular moments or deeply meaningful experiences, like looking at a dazzling sunset on the edge of a deserted road with no one else around, or gazing into your lover’s eyes and knowing she’s “the one.” It’s at this time, that time passes by neither too quickly nor too slowly, is not the beginning or the ending of an event and is not working for or against us. It just is.

Time is not personal. It doesn’t care who you are, how you’ve spent your life, if you think you need more of it or if you have too much of it on your hands. Time is constant.

Twenty years from now we may curse time, or regret that we didn’t use our time more wisely. But maybe, when we look back, we’ll be content with how we spent our time. So, let’s live in the moment and relish each day we have together, and twenty years from now, when we’re holding hands and watching our baby-turned-adult go off into “the world,” we’ll know that it was time well spent.