Time

Revisited

How many seconds spent 
waiting by the microwave 
to warm up something to eat?
Minutes standing at the stove
waiting for the water to boil to 
cook the spaghetti for dinner
Hours spent working at
your job to get paid your
hourly wage, eight hours a
day, forty hours per week.
It’s never enough to 
make ends meet.
The few precious hours at
home, nesting with your 
family, friends, and your 
things that define you.
Days waiting for the weekend
to be only yourself, not
that person who you have
to pretend to be at work.
Weeks until the next day 
off from work. Crossing 
out days on the calendar,
counting down to that one
extra day you’ve been given
to catch a break from feeling 
pulled in twenty-four directions
because of time or the lack of it.
Months spent waiting for 
the baby to be born or  
the New Year to come—
the hope for a better next year.
How many years spent going about
life, day by day, getting shit done; 
night after night, sleeping 
(that is—if your worries will let you.)
Making hash marks in fives on 
the wall as you dictate, record, 
recall the passage of time.
Years, years, years, and years,
months, weeks, days, hours, 
minutes, seconds waiting—
How did I get so old?
Where did the time go?

I wrote this poe-umm on my phone September 13, 2023…it was so off the cuff while heating up water for tea. Time and the passage of time has been a preoccupation that has inspired artwork and my writing for a very long time. I’ve been thinking about it a lot this past week after the death of my brother-in-law (my Fred’s sisters husband). He was only 65 and cancer took him away after all efforts to maintain his quality of life. Back in August they gave him a year to live, he slid downhill rapidly since then. He went into hospice and passed away on 12/2. The funeral was on Saturday. We rode out to the Buffalo area with my Fred’s brother and his wife, and his BMW broke speed records in the left lane of the New York State Thruway to get to the High Noon funeral. It’s normally a 3 hour drive or thereabouts depending on the suburb you’re going to and traffic. We left their house at 9:05 AM, arrived in town at 11:10 AM, and had time to stop at the local McD’s for a piddle, and picked up a large order of fries to stave off hunger during the high mass service we were attending...

Thus… my thoughts about time, the passage of time…and remembering our brother-in-law, their wedding day, the holidays spent with them, watching their 5 children grow up, their oldest daughter’s wedding, and then the last time we saw them before he became incapacitated by cancer was two years ago at the wedding for Fred’s brother’s oldest daughter. He was fragile then.

We only get together for funerals and weddings these days…we’re in that time of our lives. It’s awful to think “Who’s next?”

My Fred’s sister is a strong woman (it is through her that I met My Fred, her little brother). She was so happy to see the four of us there—she sobbed and smiled at the same time. The children (the little steps) are all grown, the son looks just like his dad, the girls are beauties, a mix of the two parents.

Their oldest daughter came up to me at the restaurant before we left, and said, “I remember being at your house for Thanksgiving one year when I was little, you asked me what books I liked. You gave me books for Christmas that year…” She’s a school teacher now, and lamented that the kids these days do not read books. She’s glad that they are banning cellphones in school. The kids are so distracted and unfocused. I, in return, said something about books being magical, and it’s sad that they are missing out on the reading experience. I complained about the phones being a preoccupation that I’m trying to resist—losing time doom-scrolling—the 24/7 society is unsustainable. It’s exhausting.

Everyone was talking about AI. The young people were especially worried about how it’s going to impact them. My Fred is doing what he can to learn how to use AI and apply it to his job, he’s the oldest person at the office to make the effort to learn as much as possible to develop a new skill set. The rest, much younger, are struggling with it, or resisting it.

On the way home, the four of us, bombing down the New York State Thruway, from 4:15 PM to about 6:30-ish, we shared all that we heard during our visits with our nieces and nephew, and compared notes as far as our kids go…there are worries in that generation that we brought into the world.

My Fred and I arrived home safe after our long day that felt like a roller-coaster ride of emotions and information (and riding in a speeding BMW).

Jeez Christmas trees, my brain is still buzzing like a beehive.

It’s been very cold here and we have a lot of snow. (More than Buffalo!) 3 degrees shortly after dawn, now it’s 11 AM and it’s 14 degrees and thankfully, sunny.

Elizabeth is wearing her heavy winter blanket, pink with stars!

Harper Lee is always excited to see me outside, I have done the best I can to make a cozy place in our barn for her to shelter for the winter, the self-warming beds are amazing, and I’m so glad she uses them to sleep with, they warm to the kitty’s body heat. Her winter coat is very thick and floofy. I have them around the house for the indoor kitties, too.

I hope everyone is well (keeping warm if it’s cold where you are). Be extra good to yourselves, follow your bliss, and find joy. Remember to be kind to others, okay? You never know what someone is going through—and we’re all going through a lot these days.

Thank you for visiting From My Acre of the World. I’m happy to share my creative life journey as I connect the dots between life, art, images, the written word, and my creative process. I want to say “Hello” to all my subscribers, followers, and new visitors. I want to thank my subscribers, both paid and free; I truly appreciate your ongoing support, and it means a great deal to me to have you here. My content is always free because I want to reach people and make my work accessible (you can pay if you want to, but there’s no pressure). I always enjoy hearing from you; your comments are pretty special.