time

I've been thinking about time lately.

Time seems to speed up the older you get. Six weeks of school holidays seemed like forever as a child, and now, as a parent, it just zips past and I don't manage to do half the things with the children that I'd like to do (or think I should do).

Days fly past with little to show, and yet I always seem to be doing something.

I used to work in radio, and a song that runs for a couple of minutes would be time enough to make a coffee, but three minutes elsewhere would be no time at all.

These days I seem to spend a lot of time waiting for other people - often the husband and children.

Sometimes I'm afraid that time is running out, and I haven't done half of what I meant to do with my life.

I often hear myself saying that I haven't got the time, but I have the same time as everyone else. It really is about how you use it.

Someone I worked with over 15 years ago said to me, when I was complaining that I didn't have enough time to paint and draw, that there are eight hours a day to work, eight hours a day to sleep, four hours to travel and eat and shower and all the other little things, and four hours to dedicate to what's important. Too often I forget that.

The other thing I tend to forget is that I can include the children in a lot of those hours, and I don't necessarily need to isolate myself from them in order to spend time doing the things I want to do.