It’s About Time

This is a true “Sunday Story”.  No politics today, just some “musings” about time – and it’s on a Sunday!!

Clocks

I think we all have little quirks:  the things we do that, maybe, only make sense to us.  I am a clock setter.  Is the timer on the coffee pot and the timer on the microwave out of sync? I can’t stand it.   So when the power goes out, I am quick to reset everything.  Now, in my favor I think; I don’t have to have them synchronized to the absolute second.  The “half-minute” will do.  

I am definitely the guy who resets the car clocks the first chance after the time changes.  In fact, that’s the first thing the next morning, twice a year, for every clock we have.  That includes the “ornamental” clocks that we don’t even see, “award-plaque” clocks that probably need a new battery, and the fancy watches I seldom wear.  I want the time to be accurate, everywhere I look.  Somehow, on the Jeep, the clock consistently gets five minutes too fast, which, as you probably can tell, makes me crazy.  So I reset that one every few weeks, back to  “real time”.   That way I don’t feel like I’m late for everything!!

The clock on my stopwatch is correct too.  I use it a lot during the track seasons, and I don’t want to have to check my phone during a competition to see what time it is.  Folks will think I’m “texting” in the middle of a vault or a race, not a good look. 

Look Forward

We also have a monthly calendar on the wall of our kitchen, a dry-erase board.  It has room for five weeks, and as soon as I can possibly fit the “next” month on, I put it up.  It’s one more way (besides our sync’d phone calendars) for Jenn and I to be on the “same page”.  But it also gives a visual representation of our commitments.  Sometimes, it just a way to see where the “get-to” days are:  the days when there’s nothing on the schedule, and we can chill.  

But the point for me is to get my head ready for “what’s next”.  Today was that day (I had to squeeze August 24 and 31 in the same box).  There’s all the medical stuff that comes with being old enough for Medicare, and August is the “Birthday Month” for Jenn.  And slipping in on Saturday’s are Cross Country meets, a little bit of back to work for me.  

Parking Lots

When I was a track coach, we went to a lot of track invitationals. Those are all-day affairs, arriving early on a Saturday morning and leaving just before dinner time.  The first “duty” of the team was to establish a camp, where we literally pitched our tent and put all of our equipment.  My first “on site” decision was to say where the camp would go.  And, as all of my coaches, and most of my older athletes realized, we “camped” in the same place every year.

It was usually somewhere on the backstretch of the track, with a good view of the finish line and the field event venues.  In fact, I seldom was in the “camp”.  I was out coaching, prowling the backstretch during the running events, and hanging out at the field areas for their competitions.  But we always had that central spot – our camp – in the same place.  Name a venue:  Heath, Granville, Worthington, Wheeling, Pickerington, Licking Valley, Galion.  You could always find the Watkins boys team – in the same spot.  

So it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that I park in the same area for places I always go to:  Kroger’s, Doctor’s office, Barber, the Ohio Theatre, the Jesse Owens Track at Ohio State.  That way, when I’m done with whatever errand or event, I can come right back out to the car, which, of course, is right where it’s supposed to be.

Old Age?

Some might say that’s old age.  Nothing worse than that “sad elderly man” wandering the parking lot looking for his car.  But, to be honest, I’ve been doing this since I learned how to drive.  It just seems easier, one less thing to remember.  (By the way, it drives Jenn crazy.  Her goal is to “park as close as you can”, even if it takes an extra five minutes to find the spot.  So my pulling up two rows over and fifteen cars out to an empty spot always generates a sigh.  “Are you saving the good spots for ‘old people’?  We ARE old people!!!”).

I know where my car is parked.  And I know what time it is, and, good or bad, what’s happening tomorrow.  It’s all about time – and at least I get the “correct” information.  The future is never certain, but at least the “map” for how it’s supposed to be, is.  

That’s one less thing to worry about.

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Author: Marty Dahlman

I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.