Time - Part Deux

I received a message from my brother-in-law yesterday. Which means he is home. Safe. A welcome relief always.

Beyond the safe return of one of my best friends, my brother, this also marks a changing of the guard, if you will. This morning, I went to my armoire, pulled out a different watch, wiped off the dust and briefly shook it to wind it up.

Wearing a watch has become a daily routine. Losing my watch, asking the kids where it may be and finding it is all part of said routine. Often, the conversation with Emi is simply, "Emi, have you seen my black watch?" The answer is almost always, "Yes, I put it somewhere safe."

The safe place often changes. But my watch is almost always there. Sometimes the watches go missing for a bit longer only to show up in a sock drawer months down the road. It's all part of the fun.

While I was in Boston, my dear friend Fibby asked about the watch on my wrist. Commented that she had not seen it before. It made me smile before I answered.

It was quite some time ago that I wrote this post regarding my new watch. I still have this watch. I still wear it every game day when I have to put on a suit. There are several watches in my armoire now. Each one tells a story, has a purpose, each may even be a talisman. I'll save most of those stories for another time and simply tell the story of two.

There is a silver Seiko I have which is part of a set purchased for all the men in my family several Christmases ago. Each of us have the same watch. Hopefully, it gives each of us a connection every morning when we wake up and put on our watch...that each of us is doing the same thing at one moment, even thousands of miles apart. This Seiko connection goes further back to my Grandfather, my Dad's Dad, as he had a gold Seiko he wore every day.

This is the watch I pulled out this morning. Dusted off. Wound up. Reset. With thoughts of my father, my two brothers and my Grandfather. But it isn't the watch Fibby had asked about in Boston.

The watch I was wearing in Boston was a gift to me from my brother-in-law who so recently returned. It is a watch he was given, a gift from the army during a competition. When he generously handed it to me, I began wearing whenever I rode his motorcycle, since, in my mind, the two seemed to go together. When I purchased my bike, I continued to wear his watch whenever I climbed on the bike. It just seemed right. Whether it is a good luck thing or purely a habit, it is certainly a talisman.

And then, when he deployed, I began wearing it every day. As a reminder of his service to our country. As a reminder that our country is still fighting a war abroad. As a reminder that he is in harm's way.

But he is back now. His watch goes into my armoire, only to be pulled out for motorcycle rides. And I wear a reminder of my family on my wrist.

Time

It used to be I had all the time in the world. There was no rush and even if I had to be somewhere at a specific time, I usually did not have to worry about going anywhere else afterward. I was used to checking my cell phone for the time and just gauging the rest from there.

These days, it seems like not only do I often have a fairly set schedule, I also have to pay attention to how long I have been doing something as I usually need to run off to the next appointment. Relying on a cell phone that may or may not be in my pocket is no longer reliable.

All this leads up to me needing a watch. I had decided a while back that I wanted to find myself a nice watch...save up some scrill and splurge a bit on something that would be with me for a long time. However, I was having a tough time finding something that suited me. I was also struggling with finding a brand that was neither too hoighty toighty or too Mickey Mouse.

I bumped into a Seiko in my travels and that brought back memories. Memories of my Grandfather's gold Seiko. A watch that was going to stay in the family after he passed on. It was passed along but belongs to someone outside the family due to a little criminal issue in Montreal.

I started keeping my eyes open for the right Seiko and ultimately settled on a Kinetic Seiko that looked like it would fit the bill.

It keeps time. I don't have to wind it. It keeps me on track.

Most of all, every time I see it, I remember my Grandfather. That means more to me than keeping track of what time it actually is.

Every now and then, we have to look back to figure out where we are and see where we are going.

The best laid plans...

A little Burns for you this evening.

We had so much planned out for today. I was to go riding in Nederland after work. Hope was headed to her pre-natal aerobics class after a day of relaxing.

I had a busy day at work. Couple this with watching a grass fire erupt from a lightening strike on Green Mountain this afternoon and I was left feeling too small to fix a flat tire and drive the sixty minutes to Ned.

But compound this with the fact that Hope was called in for jury duty today. Ignore the fact that she is 8.5 months pregnant and needing to pee every 45 minutes. What happens? She is the first choice for both the prosecution and defense teams on what is guaranteed to be at least a 3 day criminal trial. Needless to say, she had a long and emotionally trying day listening to the opening arguments and the victim's testimony.

By the time she got out, she drove the 3 minutes from the court to Yeti's office and took some time to unwind. We decided that Ned and the gym were not in the cards for us this evening. We headed off to fill up our tank's tank and talked about heading down to Denver for a nice Indian meal since we had not planned a dinner at home tonight. As I watched the dollars float by on the pump, I came to the conclusion that driving to Denver simply to eat out was not the best use of our fuel budget or gasoline in general (wow...I'm starting to go ever greener).

We headed to a local restaurant (yes Jeff...Malone's) and enjoyed a nice dinner together. We discussed our plans for the next three days and how Hope sitting in a juror's box would change all that we had laid out. Gone was the opportunity to ride my bike to work tomorrow. Gone was Hope's chance to seal the grout in our upstairs bathroom. Gone was Ned. Gone was the gym. But not all was negative. We had the chance to spend some quality time together on a night when we didn't plan on seeing each other until our heads hit our pillows.

We were home while it was still light out. I set up an area for Hope to work on her computer in our driveway and I collected my tools to finish painting the trim for the upstairs window. It was so warm that my coats were almost dry by the time I finished painting so I climbed my ladder and hung the trim around our upstairs bathroom window (yeah...cross another one off the honey-do list...five months later). Hope worked on a poetry paper and read some wonderful pieces that she had written over the years. Together, we reflected on her words, her images and the songs of her soul while we collected our tools and retired to our house.

I don't so much mind when my plans are ruined for a night spent together. I'd be happy if the rest of my life was spent breaking such plans just to spend a few more minutes together like tonight. Sometimes the best laid plans aren't necessarily the best ones after all.

Perhaps it's time...

Time to start writing again. It's been way too long since I have written anything remotely original. Beyond the plethora of email that bounces around, I'm afraid I have not put pen to paper, or keystroke to computer at all. It's not that I haven't been inspired. A few have been subject to my written rants or rambling calls but I find I feel much more centered if I actually put additional time into my thoughts.

Time for spring to break into summer. Winter seems to be trying to hold on this year. Not that it bothers me so much. But I'm more ready for all of hockey to be over, not to think about what rink I need to be in next, what sweater to take with me to the game, which whistle will actually work.

Time for me to really start riding my bike(s) again. Injury ruined last summer's riding...for the most part. Road was ok but riding on pavement gets way too monotonous. This summer will be all about shedding extra hockey weight (says the guy eating a bag of chips).

Time to finish up the house. For multiple reasons. We have so much to do, so little time and such a small budget. It is all coming together but not having a houseboy to do all of the work puts the bulk of the burden on me now.

Time to become a Dad. The biggest step of all. The most time consuming of all. The one I am most excited about and most scared about. But I look back at the role models I have and had and I know I am far better prepared for this new step than so many others. I think of my Dad, I think of Skip, I think of my brothers, I think of my grandfathers, I think of my closest friend's fathers who have helped guide me along the way. I couldn't find better training, I couldn't read better books, I couldn't ask for better guidance. Now there is only time to wait for each passing day until the little one is fully cooked and ready to be out.

It's time.