“After all, tomorrow is another day!”

Her name was Susie, a beautiful black and white purebred American Cocker Spaniel…and she was mine! In response to a challenge put out by the CNE in Toronto—and at the encouragement of my mother!—I answered the question, Why do you want a dog? And I won! The prize was a puppy and I named her Susie. I was 9 years old!

The October I turned 12, our family moved from my birth home in Toronto to Willowdale (North York). I left behind my childhood friends, the familiarity of our neighbourhood, and a special family whose home I had come to claim as my second home. But at least I had Susie; we were inseparable!

During that first summer away from my old neighbourhood, I was alone all day while my parents and siblings went to work. Any friends I’d met that school year had gone to camp or the cottage, but I didn’t mind being alone, I had Susie. If humans and dogs could be soul mates, that’s what we were.

My parents decided that I should spend a week at my uncle’s cottage in Marmora, Ontario. Susie couldn’t go—I wasn’t happy about that!—and when I came home, she was gone. Susie had become ill and needed the care of a vet. When my father couldn’t afford the vet bill, the vet said he would see that she was taken care of in return for her ownership and purebred papers. He would keep her as his own dog. My father agreed. To say my heart was broken would be an understatement, but through that traumatic time my mother taught me a valuable lesson. She told me that although it may be hard to believe, time would heal my pain and mend my broken heart, and she was right. It did, eventually.

Over the years from childhood to adulthood, I’ve learned another lesson about time: it has another face. Not only is it there to ease us through difficult moments, time is a precious gift allotted to each of us. Babies have their full allotment of years ahead of them, teenagers can’t wait for time to pass to be older, and as the years roll forward, we older folk passionately look back on our youth. All part of the life cycle.

But from another perspective, how often do we take time for granted? How often do we fritter it away and treat it like a bottomless bucket? I have to admit that there are days when evening comes that I look back on the previous seventeen hours and chastise myself for accomplishing very little. Eventually I come to realize that what’s done is done (or not done!) and nothing will change that. Back in 2012 I wrote a blog entitled, Don’t waste time on things you cannot change (blog post July 25), and in remembering that mindset, I remind myself that “After all, tomorrow is another day” (Thank you, Scarlett O’Hara!) and I make a promise that tomorrow will be better.

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
 for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
 for to you I entrust my life. 
Psalm 138:8

This past fall I sat under the teaching of a conference leader who acknowledged that the demographic ages in his group varied from eighteen to eighty. He pointed out that the eighteen year old’s runway of life was much longer than the eighty year old’s, and, whether it was his intention or not, that metaphor stuck with me. My runway of life is getting shorter as the days pass (or the calendar flips, as I like to refer to the passing of time), and wasting time is not an option for me. Even so, I know that—as in the past—there will be days when the productive use of time will be carelessly shunned and I won’t be able to turn back the clock—that can only happen in Hallmark movies. But I have the assurance that the sun will come up the next morning and I will be left to choose once again how I will spend my day.

LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. 
Remind me that my days are numbered—
how fleeting my life is.
Psalm 39:4

Doug and I we will be celebrating our 60th wedding anniversary this month on the 27th and we will most assuredly remember our youth, revel in our love for each other, and remain in awe at how fast  the years have passed. Wasn’t it just yesterday my father walked me down the isle? Wasn’t it just yesterday when we both said “I do” and left home to start our lives together? Wasn’t it just yesterday that we were blessed with three children, then grandchildren and now great grandchildren? We will shake our heads in amazement and ask each other, “Where has the time gone?” then smile at the memories and count ourselves blessed for all that time has allotted us.

Time is, indeed, fleeting. Days turn into months, months become years, and then decades, but each tomorrow will be precious. Use it wisely, enjoy it to the fullest! We are!

“Happy Anniversary, Hon. Love you forever!”