Playful Calculations

Tonight, while driving home from math class, my eight-year-old Grandson Rowan called out a surprising question from the back seat. How many days have you lived Nana? Since I was at the wheel, I explained I couldn’t do that calculation, until later. He suggested the calculator on my phone would do the trick.

It quickly became apparent that time flies as he informed me that I have lived 26,289 days and he has lived 3,040 days. Yikes, where did all those days go? Of course, Rowan is now on a roll. Next question is how many hours?

630,936 hours, to be precise. And when will you reach 700,000 hours is the final question? Looks like 80.

The enormity of these many hours lived was of great interest to this young mathematician.

The enormity of how these hours have been spent was of great interest to me. None of us knows what the final tally will be but according to Malcolm Gladwell I have had plenty of time to become an expert in more than one field. Oops.

These calculations got me thinking. No matter what I have done or not done with my hours, thus far, going forward I intend to treat them all with the respect they deserve. I want to spend my hours doing this work that I love; being with people that I love; learning new things; being awestruck with the beauty all around me; hours for moodling and watching the hummingbirds at the feeder; hours for creating words on a page that just may be a lifeline to someone I don’t even know; hours with books and music and cycling and lending a hand. Hours for rest and rejuvenation.

I do not want to spend another hour fretting about good enough or “what if’s” but use the hours I have to be bold and brave, exuberant and generous in all the ways that I find meaningful.  I don’t want to take my hours for granted nor do I want to be a slave to inertia or busyness.

Rowan reminded me through his questions that I have lived many, many hours and with a little luck I may even get to 700,000 or more. But since that final figure can not be determined ahead of time, I will look at each hour as a precious gift to be fully used and fully savoured.

Note 1: I have had enquiries about registration for my  online course. I want to launch it in October during the Thanksgiving time and when I do, I will let you know here. Once it is available, you can register at anytime since it is self-directed. I am excited to launch it and thrilled that there are a few of you planning to sign up.

Note 2: You may want to do your own calculation and see how many days and hours you have lived. It is revealing in all kinds of ways. Until next week. Trudy