Have you ever tried Tabata? It’s an form of torture exercise! Here’s how it works: you do an exercise for 20 seconds on with a 10 second rest for a total of 8 rounds. The 20 seconds of pushups, squats, or whatever form of exercise you choose feels like it last forever. Your muscles are quivering and sweat is dripping off you. Yet, those 10 seconds are over in a literal blink of an eye. I’m dead serious here! 

While life certainly doesn’t pass as quickly as the 4 minutes of Tabata, it does go by quickly.

In 8 months I’ll be 44. FOURTY FOUR!!!!

What? I’m gonna need a second to pick my jaw off the floor here. 

My 21 year old son is now a daddy to 2 year old and a 7 week old, both boys. I hold his newest baby and think, “Has it really been that long ago since I held my own boy?” I look into the eyes of this baby and see his daddy. It’s trippy.

A few weeks ago I attended the memorial of a woman, Clara, I met 28 years ago. As I was sitting there I began to look around the packed church. I wanted to get a glimpse of some of the people that had impacted by her. That’s when I saw my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Nash. Tears immediately sprung to my eyes. I don’t have many memories of that time in my life, but I have a lots of good feelings about that year.

The winter before I entered kindergarten the school burnt down. I cried as I watched the flames from my kitchen window. I was 4  years old. I was devastated! I vividly remember a firefighter carrying me out of our house as I kicked and screamed that I wanted to stay. The idea of never learning how to read devastated me. My 4 year old self would have rather died than live with never learning how to read.

I know now that the school would be rebuilt, but I didn’t know that then.

So, I did the only thing that made sense.

I taught myself to read. 

In the fall of 1979, 6 weeks before my 5th birthday I walked into that kindergarten class pleased as punch that I already knew how to read. Being smart was (and still is) important to me.  I don’t know how Mrs. Nash did it, but she fostered a love of learning in me.  I am so grateful for that.

We made these little hand prints as Christmas presents. I remember making mine with such pride. I could barely contain my excitement and I can pretty much guarantee that I didn’t keep it a secret from mom and dad.

This hangs on my wall today as a reminder that I was once a small child full of imagination and dreams. I loved my mom, dad, and stuffed bear. I’d sing songs of my love for them.

At the memorial a friend encouraged me to make a point of getting together with the friends that are important to us every month so we’ll never have any regrets when one of us leaves this world. That has been on my mind for days now. So today I called up a woman I love dearly and we scheduled a time to get together. I don’t want to be so busy living life that I neglect the building and nurturing of relationship.

Who is the person you run into at the store or text and say “we need to get together someday” and mean it? Do it. Get it scheduled right now.

Time passes quickly. I want my time to be invested in building something that lasts. What about you?