All the Time 9/24/2023

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

This is the time of year that the days get shorter. Well, the light does.  I am assured that there are still in fact 24 hours in a day, but I am not sure that the proverbial “they” are correct on this.  It seems to me that at this time of year, more than any other time on the calendar, there is less and less time available. There is so much going on in every facet of my existence at the moment that I don’t really think that there are still the same number of hours in a day or even days in a week. I feel quite certain that currently life is presenting all a to-be-done list that is worth at least 38 hours each day of a good 9-day week. Unfortunately, it seems that the boxes on my calendar are still trying to tell the tale that the weeks remain unchanged. The clocks insist on a similar story but I don’t know. I think it might be a conspiracy. I don’t know what the goal of this scheme is, nor what nefarious villain is orchestrating it, but I can say it has me downright frazzled.

I know that one part of it is the full swing of having a child in school.  There is forever a field trip to keep in mind. Or sometimes there is a spirit day that has to have the appropriate attire planned (or more likely purchased frantically). Let us not forget the special school events that either require money to be sent or items to be sold to friends and family raising funds for more events that will, again, likely require money to be sent. I hadn’t thought about it until just now, but perhaps the vanishing minutes on the clock are syncing up to the numbers in the bank account. Well, that is disconcerting. Even with my daughter as a 7-year-old the cost of having a child in school is not for the faint of heart. She isn’t even to the age that brand name clothes or the latest technology matter yet and already it is always something. She can be entertained with cheap little gadgets and toys for now, but Heaven help us when smartphones and cars are on the wish list. Yes, the saying “time is money” is proving disconcertingly true in this case. But as I do, I digress.

I didn’t even mention the hour-eating joys of homework and school projects. My child is in the second grade so you would think while time consuming, this shouldn’t be particularly complicated. You would be sorely mistaken. While I am not excessively old, I apparently have enough years on me to have reached an age where I no longer know how math is to be done. I know.  You probably thought like I did that numbers were pretty standard and that our use and understanding of them was unlikely to change very much.  But again, you would be incorrect in this assumption. And if you have a child of a similar age in school right now, you know the very concerning moment when you look at your child’s math homework and while numbers still look the same, the things they are asking your child to do with them are an utter and complete foreign language. Now, in school I didn’t and still do not like math to this day. But were the methodologies we learned so terrible that we must teach today’s child something with which her poor parents will be utterly inept to help her?  Must I defend the math of old despite my loathing for it? Math already taxed my brain enough and now must I do it in new ways that take quintuple the time?  Why school system, do you wish to shorten my life?  Have I not already said I don’t have enough hours in the day?  It is the equivalent of not only asking a staunch vegan to work in a meat processing plant but they also have to stuff the sausages by hand so they can really revel in the fleshy-ness of it all. I might have gone off topic. I apologize. But I think you get the metaphor.

Some of the lack of hours I have brought on myself. I admit it. I have volunteered to do things with my church. I have volunteered to take on roles in the local Parent Teacher Organization. I work a full-time job, though that isn’t really something I just do to pass the time, so I won’t count that as self-inflicted, that is just called bills to pay and mouths to feed.  And of course, there is the fact that it is finally the time of year that so easily lends itself to having gatherings with football and weather that isn’t trying to kill you.  So yes, my family has people over for such things and the preparation and scheduling that such events require does take time.  See, I admit that when some of the time is stolen from the clock, I may have instigated the thievery.  I do not bemoan those though.  I suppose it’s the time I lose against my will, or even more disturbingly, the time that disappears and I don’t even know what was done with it that is so bothersome.

In case it wasn’t already blatantly clear, I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Obviously, I can’t even write a blog without going off on random tangents that may or may not even be topical. To say I am a bit spent could be an understatement. In fact, I was so distracted with all that I have going on that earlier this week I got in the shower and was alarmed by a strange sensation. I had somehow neglected to take off all of my clothing and was amidst the rarely experienced feeling of having hot water-soaked fabric cling to my personage. I do not recommend this.  I cannot say I have ever done this before but clearly my brain had reached its item limit for multi-tasking and started skipping some steps.

I don’t know why or if you cared to know all this. Maybe I just wanted to share because, in perusing social media as of late, I think that I may not be alone in my sentiment.  I see many people feeling that they are lacking in one aspect of their lives or another due to having so many irons in the fire.  I feel similar. I am an employee, a wife, a mother, a hostess, a daughter, a volunteer, a secretary and there are almost definitely multiple other roles I haven’t even thought to list.  But just know, if your brain is like a pot of unattended stew that is boiling over and seems to be making a mess of things, there are others that feel the same. And often, we see others and think how well they are managing. Ironically those people are very often looking at us and thinking the same thing.  While prioritizing is key, it is also important to note that others are facing the same struggle and all of us are just doing our best.  Eliminate what you can, (she said looking at herself).  Give your best effort at everything.  Find time to rest. Most definitely encourage others along the way. Our races may all be different, but we are all running. This isn’t a sprint though it feels like it sometimes. Life is most assuredly a marathon. I, along with all of you, must do all we can to finish well.