Time

Time

I’ve been thinking about how I spend time these days. I feel sufficiently busy though my obligations have dropped to a fraction of what they were when I was working full time. What’s obvious to me is that I start each day more slowly…I still arise about 7am, but enjoy a morning coffee (decaf) and CBS’ national news coverage until I head off to Pickleball (Mondays) or golf (Tue-Thurs) for my morning athletic activity. Clearly my time preparing for, playing and recovering from golf rounds takes up a fair amount of time each week but, I’m grateful for the camaraderie, the exercise (I only walk the course…5 miles pushing my cart) and the opportunity to try to improve my game. I also play with a large group Saturday mornings and with Judy and often another couple on Sundays. Friday’s my day of rest when I get on my rowing machine and do some other strength training exercises. 

Most days, I have at least a couple of hours of calls…weekly on behalf of several of my volunteer roles as well as various consulting roles. Nearly every day, I speak with at least one of my doctoral students reviewing proposals and drafts of dissertations. It feels like we’ve been doing some home renovation project forever, so inevitably, there’s a meeting or call a couple of times each week about that. Judy and I often grocery shop together and we’ve been doing more collaborative dinner prep, so that’s a fun part of almost every day (we seem back to weekend dining out with friends). 

Then there are the daily moments of time that are simple and calming and just fun. Our Nashville kids send frequent videos and photos of the grandkids in action…usually engaged in something silly or smart and we love to pause and enjoy those moments. Our Denver grandkids call on their own Amazon Show and we love the near daily chats, Roblox games and just ‘presence’ as best video chat can do. Fortunately, we’re finally flying to Denver soon to see them live! 

Then there are my experiences with nature. Our yard has become more and more beautiful and interesting as over the last few years, we’ve added more landscaping, dry creek beds and rock gardens. We’ve put up several bird feeders, a blue bird house and bird bath, as well as two hummingbird feeders and I’m sure I spend at least an hour every day just watching the bird action and simply walking around to enjoy the scenery. We have several eggs in the bluebird house nest and will check regularly until they hatch and until the newborn birds eventually fly away. We’ve begun identifying all the bird we attract to our feeders and marvel at the diversity of flora and fauna. Occasionally a hawk visits our yard and that certainly clears out all other animal life. But, as soon as the hawk flies off, the choreography of birds, squirrels, deer, fox, and rabbits reappear and catch my attention. I love the heavy rains that arrive regularly with southern storms and marvel at the rivers that suddenly appear in the not-so-dry creek beds flowing out to woods beyond our back yard. 

Perhaps my greatest outdoor pleasure (and frustration) is derived from my vegetable garden. I’ve long had a small garden but of late have expanded it to about 70 square feet. I grow several species of tomatoes (Cherokee Purple, being my favorite), cucumbers on a trellis I made, green and red peppers that never seem to yield much, and this year, several lettuces, kale and celery. I have several herbs growing as well including cilantro, mint, thyme, two kin’s of parsley and chives. I’ve surrounded the vegetables with flowering annuals to attract pollinators and built a fence around most of the garden to keep the varmints from enjoying the bounty before we get to it. At least 3-4 times each day, I tell Judy that I’m heading out to check ‘the farm’ where I’ve also recently added drip irrigation and daily check with my moisture meter for appropriate watering. Ok….now I really sound like a retiree! But, I derive greatly pleasure from simply watching…birds, water, trees waving wildly in storms (while I fret about one falling), vegetables and herbs growing, and plants flowering and growing. 

So, these are my therapies…long walks hitting a small ball, the company of friends, time with my best friend doing simple things like grocery shopping and cooking, electronic engagements with family, fun reading (story of WeWork right now) and just watching life in slow motion. My consulting, writing, teaching and advising fulfill my need to stay relevant and purposeful and our few hours of tv binging in the evenings round out each week’s expenditure of time and energy. No complaints. 

Larry