By By Janet Little Cooper
The Jim Croce song Time in a Bottle comes to mind today. The popular love song of the 70's describes the lack of time we all seem to have to do the things we want to do.
One lyric in the song says: "Whether we are young or old, it does sometimes seem as if there is never enough time to do everything that we would like to do."
My 38th birthday was Friday and I've been wondering where the time has gone. It is funny how children anticipate their birthday and how adults try to forget them. When we are young we wish time a way wanting to be older and then once we get there we wish for more time.
Time is a huge issue in my life and not just because I am on the doorstep of being 40 either. Working in the newspaper business, one is not allowed to disregard time.
Every minute of every day is dictated by time. Monday's meet me with a deadline of time to write and design Wednesday's lifestyles section.
Time really picks up a step or two on Tuesday, as we rush to meet deadline for the front section of Wednesday's paper.
And as you sit back and enjoy your cup of coffee with your Wednesday paper, I start the entire process over by doing interviews back to back all day Wednesday for the following lifestyles section to come out the next Wednesday.
Thursday is marked by time as well, as I work on Sunday's paper and special sections. And once again, Friday becomes a frenzy of lost time, as we scramble to put Sunday's paper together before deadline.
My dates get so confusing at times. It always seems that I am working a week or two ahead. Just the other day, I realized that November is already nearing the end and I don't even really remember it starting.
Deadlines are not the only thing at work that has me constantly thinking of time. One of my job responsibilities is to type obituaries for our two papers. Sadly enough, there never seems to be a lack of them. But with each one I type, I am faced with the reality of time in a person's age. Sometimes they have lived a long life, but tragically others have had far too little time.
The Senior Living article I do each week, also makes me think of time. I interview the seniors of our community and spend time reminiscing with them over their life and time passed. Their accounts of time tend to put my time in perspective each week.
My two children are my other time clock ticking away. It just seems like yesterday that I was rocking them in my arms. They have grown so fast – actually too fast.
Time in a Bottle goes on to talk about saving time and putting it away to be able to spend it with the person they love.
Time is flying by for me, it was just Monday for me yesterday and now it's already Friday and before you know it, it will be Monday again. I can't stop time or bottle it for later use, but I can manage it and make the best of it. It may get frustrating and even depressing at times, but for the most part I am so thankful for my time, in a pinch or not.
Janet Little Cooper is the lifestyles reporter for the Atmore Advance. Her column appears weekly.