Four months ago on this date I awoke at 3:45 AM not to teach a class but instead to gather myself (along with hubby and stuff) and head to the hospital for a surgery that would forever change me.

The anxiousness pulsed through my body as we drove for what felt like the longest ride. For once, David was taking his time – and for once, I wanted him to speed. You see, the sooner we arrived at the hospital the sooner this disease could be out of my body. Good riddance!

And now…well…if I could expedite time, tomorrow would be January 1, 2016. This year placed in a box, sealed tightly with duct tape, tossed in the ocean, never to be opened again.

Sigh.

Ironically, David and I visited a potential high school for Gia today. Mind-blowing in some respects as she is only in 6th grade and it feels like yesterday when she graduated kindergarten. Yet time keeps passing us, flowing like a river, stopping for no one. And while we plan for the future, thinking of course time is on our side, it really is not.

One of the many life lessons I’ve learned over these five months is that “what we think is not always what is”. Our minds convince us that there is a “next time” or that life will reward us “all in good time”. Hmmm…if only we could buy time at Walmart or Target or recycle it at Rumpke. But reality is such that once it’s gone, you can never get it back. Hence the concept “it’s too late”.

Time changes everyone – that’s a given – either physically, emotionally or spiritually. And time eventually reveals to us what truly matters. Just like money, we have to decide how to spend the time that has been given to us. And there will always come a time in ones life when you have to choose between turning a page or closing the book.

Finished with turning pages, I’m ready to slam this book shut and start a new one!