If I could save time in a bottle,
The first thing that I’d like to do
Is to save every day till eternity passes away,
Just to spend them with you. – Jim Croce (Time in a Bottle)
How often do you think that you want to spend time with someone, but time just passes away? Things come up. You are busy. You will put the time aside tomorrow or maybe the next day. But the next day never comes. Then one day this person is gone. They have left this earth for some other place. You are sad. You wish that you had saved time and spent more of it with the person than you did. You wish you had another opportunity. However, eternity just passes away and you may never spend the time with them that you had planned to.
The problem happens because we are living in the future and not in the present. In the present, time is a gift that we have been given and we can not save even a minute. We all need to start living in the present. So who can you spend more time with this week that you have been putting off seeing? Who would cause you the most regrets if they died this day and you had not spent another minute with them? What is more important right now then spending a moment of eternity with them?
Aging Capriciously 
Jan 06, 2025 @ 13:30:42
I experienced very recently the consequences of exactly what you describe John.
To summarise … a close friend spent 6 years, 7 months, 2 weeks, post brain surgery trauma, mostly paralysed in hospital and rehabilitation. For many different reasons over time visits gradually reduced and latterly became infrequent. Even phone calls meant difficulties with speech and hearing. “I must make more effort and phone or visit” I kept telling myself. Then on 11th November the message arrived saying she had died peacefully with family at her side a few hours earlier. I was too late… not enough effort made… not prioritised.
I’m annoyed with myself and the only thing I can do is to remember and learn from it.
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Jan 06, 2025 @ 18:15:00
Very sorry Margaret. I can understand it must really hurt. It is so easy to miss opportunities and later we regret it deeply. I have a bucket full of these regrets. I had a friend who said when he was dying of pancreatic cancer that he had “NO REGRETS.” I actually believed him since he seemed to live more in the moment than I did or do. Another friend said to me once, there are “No Mistakes, Only lessons to be learned.” I try to keep that thought in mind when I have missed an opportunity or done something I later regret.. Hope you have a Great New Year Margaret. John
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