Quality Time

Time, a seemingly immeasurable object, is constantly engaged in a rousing game of tug-of-war with me. It seems there is never enough time to do the things that need to be done and far too much time to do nothing. Splitting my time, not equally but evenly between God, my family, work, and myself is an extremely daunting task. My life is often lived based on the time. The question, “Is there enough time?” seems to be answered more often in the negative than the carefree. Enough time for what?

There’s a long-standing joke in my family about Sunday. We all agree that Sunday at 4:00p.m. is the official end of the weekend. What happens after four o’clock that will not cause us to be tired on Monday morning? Nothing. So starting on Saturday morning (a day we are very careless with our time) we watch the clock dreading Sunday at 4:oop.m. As ridiculous as the concept maybe it often has a profound effect on how we spend our time and increases our desire to not waste time. The irony of course, is that weekends were built for just that sort of thing. What could be more fun that to spend 48hrs doing absolutely nothing? Absolutely nothing.

This past weekend my wife and I found ourselves in the DINK category and will remain Double Income No Kids for the entire summer. Trips to the grocery store will be less financially and emotionally draining and no one will knock on the door at 6:00a.m. demanding breakfast. There will be no homework to work on and no reminders to take out the trash. (I’m acutely aware that my kid’s chores became my chores on their vacation.) Don’t get me wrong, my wife and I love our children dearly but the very idea of not picking anyone up from school actually excites me.

Our first weekend alone, we spent a romantic evening in a nice hotel in San Diego near Mission Bay. Our room was beautiful, it overlooked the water and we even splurged with room service. We enjoyed luxuries that we wouldn’t dare had we been with the kids. We sat in the hot tub; missing, was my wife constantly doing a “where are the kids” check by the pool. We packed our overnight bags without having to inspect the clothing choices of all travelers. We dined in a fine restaurant without a suspicious, devout carnivore inspecting her plate for hidden vegetables. We had adult conversations without the electronic hum of portable game devices. Yes, it was absolute bliss. My wife and I reconnected in way that we haven’t since… well the last time the kids went away.

The quality of the time we spend together makes it so much more enjoyable dealing with the inevitable ups and downs of life. The children are our pride and joy but there introductions and stumbles through life can be very time consuming. Time should be a luxury that we try to never take for granted. Every moment literally counts and can never be restored or re-done. For that reason, every second God has blessed me to breathe, rhyme and reason is a gift.