Monday, June 30, 2014
Good morning,
My husband and I just arrived back from a wonderful vacation with our good friends Jim and Robin. They invited us to join them, along with another couple and close friends, Susan and Tom, on a trip to the Virgin Islands and to cruise the many islands through the BVI, where they would be spending the summer. Jim and Robin are great travel companions, exceptional hosts and just a whole lot of fun. It’s a blessing to know them. All three of the women on the trip have known each other for over 25 years, so we were very much looking forward to spending time together. And as couples, we enjoy great conversation, good food and wine and many, many laughs. Even though we all live in Dallas, we struggle to find time to see each other with our busy schedules.
Jim said something to us at dinner one night that truly resonated with me. He thanked us for deciding to take the time to spend with them, as he knows time is valuable and precious. He acknowledged he knew how hard it was to be gone for a week and his appreciation for the gift of time we had given him and Robin.
I thought about his comment, and how very true it is. Our decisions on how we spend our time is so crucial, especially since we spend so many of our hours working. We need to carefully determine how we will spend our free time and what it is worth to us. Choose it wisely, because it is a choice. And choose who you want to spend that time with as well. If you are spending your time doing things that aren’t what you want to do and not who you want to spend it with, why do it? Each day that passes, think about the fact that you cannot get that day back, and you and only you, can change what can happen tomorrow.
When I got home yesterday and read the Sunday paper, I discovered that someone I knew had passed away last week, and I didn’t realize she was ill; then my neighbor told me he lost his sister on Saturday. Time. It’s really all we have, and no one knows how much of it we have left, so make it matter with people that matter the most, before it’s too late.
I am so glad I spent the time I did with my close friends and husband in the VI and BVI. I wouldn’t trade that gift of time for anything!