It's About Time

"Does anybody really know what time it is?

Does anybody really care?

If so I can’t imagine why

We’ve all got time enough to cry."

You might recognize that lyric……it’s an oldie but goody by the timeless band, Chicago. I’ve sung along to it a thousand times and have even played it in a band more times than I care to remember. But I needed a song lyric about time for this story and it was the first one that popped into my head.

I’m teaching a one-hour class on time management on Monday for a group of professionals I support at work. Not that I’m any kind of expert of this topic, in fact, it’s been at least 20 years since I had this subject on my to-do list. But the group that requested the topic  appreciates my efforts and I enjoy working with them so sure, why not. Besides, I’ve got plenty of time.

Or do I?

You see, I was prepared to be writing this blog post about the whole notion of managing time and at some level, how ridiculous and absurd it seems.  When did life and work get so demanding and complex that we need to be taught how to manage our time?  And isn’t the topic of “time management right out of the late 70’s or early 80’s?  Shouldn’t we be more evolved as a society by now? 

I was all set to make a mockery of the concept of multi-tasking and how it is really an insidious plot by corporate America and motivational speakers to squeeze more money out of already declining middle class workers. And I was going to have some fun with the pitfalls of technology and how we seem addicted to the gadgets that were supposed to make our lives more manageable. At least that is  what they told us back in the day. Don’t get me wrong, I love my I-phone and the 14,000 songs  I have stored in the Cloud- I just don’t have time to listen to all of them. (see “First World Problems”)

So when I crawled out of bed this morning at 5am so I could take Grace the beagle for a walk before I headed off to work (can you see my “time management” skills working?), I checked my I-phone for messages and was greeted with a FB message from my youngest brother, Jerry. It started like this:

Brothers and Sisters,

I wanted to let you know that I dodged a bullet this week. Seems I was on the verge of a heart attack.

Holy shit, not Jerry.  Not the “Little Nipper” who is the youngest of the 8 Kingkade kids. Not they guy who just celebrated his 52nd birthday last week. . Not the guy who is active and in relatively good shape. Not the guy I just saw in February at our brother Tony’s funeral.

Yes, Jerry nearly had a heart attack, at age 52. About the age our father had his first triple-bypass. Jerry was lucky-he got away with just a stent in one artery and no heart damage. Seems he was having intermittent pain in his jaw for a couple of days. When it reappeared along with some chest pain and tingling while he was celebrating his 52^nd birthday with his wife and one of his daughters, he was whisked off the ER and the rest is history. Just in time. 

I’ll admit it- I was shaken by this news. I mentioned it briefly to Georgette before heading out to walk Grace and it was on my mind the entire time we were walking. In fact, its been on my mind all day.

All of my siblings and I have lived with the reality that when it comes to heart disease and genetics, we are seriously pre-disposed, which is a nice way to say “we got screwed”.  In all truth, I don’t feel like I got screwed at all. Who doesn’t have a family history of some kind? We all have things we need to manage as we age. I've done what I can to control my risks and so far so good.

But reading Jerry's words and pondering his fate reminded me that there are more important things about time than time management. It will be for my group on Monday morning and  I’ll do the best job I can for them, after all, I am a professional. 

But my relationship with time needs some adjusting-not a major overhaul, but a tune-up at the least.

Lately, I’ve been spending too much time focusing on how to get to 3 years from now sooner than 3 years from now-in other words, how I can get to my official retirement life faster than planned.  And that’s not a good use of the time I have today. Jerry’s “incident” as we refer to them in our family jargon, is a reminder that I need to savor every day and live in the moment.  Just as we can’t turn back the hands of time, we shouldn’t wind the clock forward either, daylight saving time excluded.

Jerry’s going to be OK. He’s a fighter and a competitor. He will double down on his diet and exercise but probably won’t slow down that much. I guess 2 out of 3 isn’t too bad.

Me,? I’ll be OK too. I’ve always worked to control what I can and that will continue. I’ll get there when I get there. In the meantime, there’s life to be lived today-right now.

And as far as the question that was posed in the song lyric above- I could care less what time it is. I’m just grateful to be alive on this beautiful spring day.

For any Chicago fans out there, here's the tune that was rattling in my head.