I'm Late, I'm Late

In Alice in Wonderland, the white hare sings a famous little diddy that could be the theme song for many of our lives.

I'm late, I'm late for
A very important date.
No time to say hello, good-bye,
I'm late, I'm late, I'm late
Do you know the feeling?

Wayne Muller in his new book, A life of being, having and doing enough, writes that when he asks how people are they seem to all say: "I'm just trying to get caught up." Are you running from appointment to appointment, activity to activity, event to event simply to get caught up? I can remember a time when my day was so full I experienced each appointment, meeting, meal, deadline met simply as a check off on my list of things to do. At the end of the day I could take away little from my day that was fulfilling, pleasurable, delightful or fun. It simply was done and that was enough. Because if I could check all those things off, then I didn't have to play catch up the next day in my already jam packed scheduled. Looking back I wonder what in the world I was trying to accomplish because I don't remember much of what I did. I just was not fully present in any of it. My goal was to get as much done as possible. I never gave any thought to enjoying myself or savoring the moments.

How sad. Because you know what? I can't get those moments back - EVER! Going back to Alice in Wonderland. The Mad Hatter was accused of murdering time for singing to the Queen and as a result time stood still for the Hatter. I, too, was murdering time in my own way but it didn't stand still for me as a punishment. No, in fact, it just kept moving along and all those moments with kids, friends, family, husband, God, were killed off in my constant quest to be caught up. Our lives and the ones who are important in them become collateral damage as we fight against time.

So ask yourself, Are you trying to get caught up? And if so, caught up to what?

Breathe today, enjoy the moments and when you do you might discover that time does slow down after all.