Welp. I wrote this last week and must have forgotten to hit the publish button. Goodness me. So here it is, a week late.

In her book, The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin writes, “The days are long, but the years are short.”

I haven’t read her book, so I don’t know the full context in which she imparted these words to her readers. Although that hasn’t stopped me from hearing the phrase. As we are all the sum of our own life experiences, I might identify with this quote differently than intended. For me, the quote sums up the current stage of life I am in.

Almost every night at least one of my boys has an activity to attend. The weekends are the same. It is a lot to keep up with, but I know they are growing so fast and sooner than later, this crazy schedule will end. Or they will be driving themselves, no longer in need of my carpool services.

It also reminds me of living through grief. Time moves both fast and slow when you miss someone you love. Some days move at a crawl, but blink and years will have passed. Moments when a flash of deja vu will transport you right back in time to a time that feels like it was yesterday.

Besides managing my children and my grief, I also work to remember my own life. Even though I am in the thick of solo parenting, I don’t want to lose sight of myself. I try to pour into my own personal relationships and experiences too. This is the one that sometimes falls short, because the days are not so long that there is extra time.

There is never enough time; time with our loved ones passed, our children, our friends, for ourselves. That doesn’t mean we have to soak in every minute, never ‘wasting’ a drop. It’s about finding the balance that works for us. Time is a weird construct when you really think about it.