Hour by Hour

What a difference an hour makes! I have finally realized why there are so few “Snarky” postings anymore and it is because I no longer have to make a sack lunch at 5:30 in the morning, or press some pants, find sheet music or car keys. The hour after chaos was when I used to type up my missives. Even though I don’t have to be “at work” at any certain time anymore, old habits are proving hard to break, so chores and errands take priority over commentary so as to be “brushes up” by 9:30 am. Considering what time it is right now….that won’t happen today.

“It will take only one hour a week” is the standard line used in Scouting to get people to volunteer. So much for the concept of trustworthy….it should be amended to “It will take only one hour a week, per kid, per year since the day he was born….”, but those hours are worth it once the time has passed.

I measure the distance to see my kids in hour units too, with route 30 to 71 being the most torturous of them all. For some odd reason, going east to west seems like a waste of time. I would rather be going north to south even though I must go west to go south. I know that sounds dumb but it is a visual thing.  What is really stupid is that I would rather drive north an hour to Cleveland, than drive east past Cleveland Ave. because the latter seems so far “over there”. 

The changing of our clocks is coming up this weekend. I grew up in a house full of clocks, my Dad collects them, the antique kinds which require winding and have really loud ticking and chiming sounds. Fall is not so bad, just stop the pendulums and wait an hour.  Spring is another story, it takes way more than an hour to readjust the mechanics of so many clanging machines, especially the ones that chime every 15 minutes.

I have so many friends (Margo, LA, Patty, Julie, Amy, …) for whom  finding an hour to meet for lunch often takes months of planning to coordinate schedules. How sad it is that our lives are so busy we cannot carve out time to sit face to face and catch up.  But an hour is not really an hour, it is time on either side to travel to and from, then lunch becomes happy hour, and somebody else always seems to be waiting for us so…..we adjust and say, well maybe next month, (or next year!) for which I apologize to my friends for my lack of being a good friend to you.

Now that I am not being an on-site 24/7 mom for now, I have been spending more time with my own mom.  One does not realize how precious those few hours are until the situation is reversed. When my own kids are home, every little hour I get is cherished. Now I understand how she feels and did not know it hurt that much.

Yes, it is “only and hour” so the saying goes…..which means I best get going. So many shows to go see and projects to do that I may have to set that clock back a few more than the required “one” this weekend.  Besides, someone once said “time is relative” so why not take a bit more than my share every now and then?