Time Tracking

I completely lost track of time today; I got out of my 1:15 class at 3:20, knowing full well I had a meeting at 3:30.

And yet, I sat down at my desk convinced I had two hours to kill before the meeting started.

So, I did some grading, organized a bunch of files, and started prepping for class tomorrow.

I began considering what piece I might write for today’s blog and considered how I could write something that was closely related enough to the classes I’m teaching that I could justify to myself using the computer in the office to do so.

Thinking this might take a while, I glanced at my watch to see how much more time I had before the meeting was to start.

Dad’s Rolex read 4:15. “That’s weird,” I thought, “I’ve been wearing it regularly, why would it wind down? And even if it did, how could it be almost twelve hours behind? Wouldn’t I have noticed earlier? Have I not looked at my watch at all today?”

Suddenly, it dawned on me that it was Wednesday, not Tuesday. I hadn’t had two-plus hours between my class and the meeting; I’d only had ten minutes.

I arrived at the meeting 45 minutes late, but thankfully, it didn’t matter too much. (I suppose that’s the nature of meetings; perhaps I learned something today.)

Mainly, though, I got to thinking about how, for the most part, especially at school, I’m pretty much at the mercy of the clock: class starts at this hour, meetings at that one; it’s time to go home when the big hand’s on the five. Or six.

I compare that to Africa last spring when we were advised to put our watches away as soon as we landed at Kiliminjaro.

And I miss those lazy days of summer when I didn’t wear a watch for weeks on end.

Ironically, I’m counting the hours until I can do that again.