time – Dancing in the rain!

photo courtesy of http://www.timeanddate.com

“How did it get so late so soon?”
― Dr. Seuss

The thing about time is that it is one of our most valuable commodities and we waste it as if it is an endless renewable resource. For instance I just watched Achey Breaky Heart Part 2. That is some valuable time I will never get back.

In all seriousness, time well wasted is not wasted time (To clarify The New Billy Ray Cyrus video is wasted time) but we put a lot of value on things that matter a lot less than our time.

In 2011 Justin Timberlake starred in a movie called In Time. Set in the future the premise was that time was the international currency. Though J.T. was appropriately charming the movie didn’t win any awards but the theme “Time is money, no time to waste” struck a chord.

A couple of nights ago I watched the movie About Time with my husband. I had seen the advance screening a couple of months ago at the theater and City TV interviewed me directly afterwards and I was a blubbering mess. I decided to watch it again with Kirk and this time I cried even harder. At one point I sobbed so hard Kirk was holding my hand and wiping my tears. I won’t ruin the movie for those of you who haven’t watched but I will say when I watch it I think about my Dad who was taken from our family way too soon. He died a week short of his 40th birthday when I was sixteen. The one thing I have wished for over the years is that we had more time. A minute, an hour, a day. I wish he had met Kirk and got to know our children. There will never be more time. Alas the saying “we don’t have the luxury of time”

About Time follows 21-year-old Tim Lake (the quirky and quietly charming Domhnall Gleeson) as he discovers he can travel in time… The night after another disappointing New Year party, Tim’s father (Bill Nighy) tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel through time. Tim cannot change history, but he can change what happens and has happened in his life-so he decides to make his world a better place and to him that means getting a girlfriend. Ironically it turns out to be quite a task. Tim moves from the Cornwall coast to London to work as a lawyer and Tim finally meets the beautiful but insecure Mary (Rachel McAdams). They hit it off immediately but an unfortunate time-travel incident means he’s never met her at all. After a lot trial and error time travel they meet again for the very first time and Tim is able to quickly win Mary’s heart. Tim then uses the power of time to create the perfect romantic proposal, to save his wedding from the worst best-man speeches, to save his best friend from professional ruin and to get his pregnant wife to the hospital in time for the birth of their daughter. As his out of the ordinary life unfolds, Tim finds out that his unique gift can’t save him from grief, sorrow and ups and downs that touch all of our families. There are huge obstacles to the success of time travel making it a dangerous game to play with. About Time is a poignant comedy about love and time travel, which leads you on a journey back in time and then forward again leaving you with the very real revelation that making the most out of life simply means making the most of your time.

Valentines Day is coming up, love it or hate it, it comes every February 14. My challenge to you is to not stress yourself out trying to find the perfect gift to show how much you care one day out of the year. Give the people you love the very best gift of all…your time. Put your phone down, shut off your laptop, be present. Show the people you love that time with them is the most important gift at all!

“Time is what we want most,but what we use worst.”
― William Penn

I am sitting here on this frigid and snowy winter night thinking how quickly the moments of your life sail by and all the things you wished away that now you would give anything to have back. When you are five you want to be ten and at ten you just want to be a teenager and when you become a teen you can’t wait to become an adult. Then it happens, you legally become an adult and you just want to be a kid, you want to have the freedom to make your own choices but none of the adult responsibilities that come along with that.

Your parents inevitably told you to be careful what you wish for, they told you how quick it would pass by and how you would long to have the time back. What did they know? Old fogies! THEY KNEW EVERYTHING!

I remember how on Holidays and Sunday dinners at my grandmothers they always had a kid table set up. I sat with my brothers and cousins eating my turkey dinner all young ladylike while Mike played hide the boogie in Gerry’s mashed potatoes and Gerry fell for every tall tale and dare my cousin Billy laid out on the table and then some. In the blink of eye and without any fanfare we graduated to the adult table. Apparently you get to be an adult at a certain age even if you are still putting peas up your nose and engaging in eating contests.

Over the years we thought of those missing from the dinner table, those we had lost to life’s cruel fate and those who were enjoying their own family dinners miles and miles away. Some of us had our own young families now, taking their place at the kids table where we once sat.

As the world turns and it continually does, life as we know it changes so quickly but one thing will always remain the same. The moments that at the time may seem like nothing special or out of the ordinary are the moments that we would do anything to have back.

Christmas at my Grandmothers house is the one thing that will always come to mind during the holidays. My mother comes from such a close-knit and special family. The thing I like the most is that they never save their affection for the holidays. It is there all year-long and they make a constant effort to be together, even now. The Holidays always felt extra special because we were dressed in our good clothes and we were told to be on our best behavior (some of us must have been deaf) and there was even more food then usual!

Christmas can be a stressful time of year for people, mostly because people have long ago forgotten why we have Christmas and it has become so commercialized that we break the bank trying to give everyone the perfect gift when the very best thing we can give to the people we love is our time. It is the one thing we always wish we had more of, time with our loved ones. So I say that this Christmas though I cannot see my family know that the most precious thing that I have ever gotten from you is the time we spent together, the laughs we shared and the memories we made. Know that a simple phone call, letter (or text if you are so inclined) means more to me then any gift possibly could.

Merry Christmas and enjoy this special time with your loved ones and if they are far away or not with you any longer give thanks for the time you shared.

Love Michelle xo