Time changes.

I have discovered as I grow older time changes. Not just the 'falling' back in the fall or the 'springing ahead' in the spring but time itself.
When I was young and in school time was a matter of holidays, vacations and tests. As I grew older time became semesters and lovers. Then I married and time became my husband and then my children.
Time was when this dirt road was further up in the woods. Then time passed and the people who had lived up there moved or died, their houses becoming cellar holes to be discovered in the woods. Time moved on and the road moved and new people came to live here. And there will be a time when we are gone. And who knows where this road will end up.
But for now time has become more seasonal for me. I no longer count the days till a holiday, my birthday or vacation. I look around me and try to discern the changes that the seasons are bringing. Last week I couldn't see the ditches by the road. This week the water is running freely and in many areas the snow has receded. The buds look a little fatter on the trees. This morning there was a red-winged black bird at our feeders. I keep time by the sun passing in the sky. Not very accurate but I can tell the difference between early morning and early evening. I have plenty of clocks in my house to tell me the 'real' time so I can be to my job or make appointments without being late.
Time has put gray hair at the temples of my husband. It has grown my boys into men. It has given me more freckles and changed my face with a fine web of wrinkles and laugh lines. Time has been hard and forgiving. I have been given more time thanks to surgery and radiation. But there is never enough time.
I have less time in front of me and more time behind me. It really always comes down to time.
You can lose time or waste time. But you can never regain time. So don't mess it up this time. Take the time to enjoy a sunset or sunrise. Stop and listen, to the city or the county. This is the only time you have.