I’ve written often about my obsession with time, and my hope that if I’m conscious of its passage that I can somehow slow it down. Or, if I can’t slow it down, at least try to appreciate it. There are many things in life that we can’t get back once they’re gone, and time is near the top of the list.When we die, few of us ever say, “I wish I had more money right now.” Or “I wish I had more stuff right now.” But near the end, most of us will probably say, “I wish I had more time.”Nothing we can do about that though. When our time is up, it’s up. The best we can do is to make the most of the time we have until The End.A year or so ago I saw a post on Facebook stating that we have fewer than a thousand Saturdays with our kids from the time they’re born until they turn eighteen. I thought of this a few days ago as I contemplated weekend plans.I did some math and looked at calendars, and figured out that we actually have either 939 or 940 Saturdays from when our children are born to when they turn eighteen, depending on the year and the day of the week they were born.That’s not many Saturdays.
My oldest daughter is eighteen. We’ve already used all 939 of her Saturdays. We’ve used 591 of my oldest son’s 939 Saturdays, which means there are only 348 Saturdays left until he turns 18. My younger son has an extra Saturday, so there are 447 Saturdays left until he turns 18. And my daughter, who’s in preschool, has 665 Saturdays until she turns 18.No, 939 Saturdays aren’t many at all.So what are we going to do with those Saturdays? We better figure it out, or they’re going to be gone, and we’ll have nothing left except a longing to recapture those days we wasted.It’s easy to say that today doesn’t matter. After all, it’s just one day. But our entire lives are created out of a collection of Just One Days. If today doesn’t matter, then how do you decide which day does matter?So if you’ve got kids, don’t waste a single one of those 939 Saturdays. It’ll be hard enough to make the most of each Saturday even if you try. But if you don’t try, then the days, and months, and years will pass and you’ll ask yourself, “What happened to the time?” And you’ll overflow with regret.Luckily, this is an easy fate to avoid. All you have to do is: anything.Anything is the answer.Take them out to breakfast for dinner. Talk to them—don’t just ask them, but engage with them—about their day. Play a board game. Wrestle with them. Ask them to teach you how to play a video game. Paint their nails. Let them paint your nails. Go to the park. Have a water balloon fight. Read to them. Have them read to you.You don’t have to travel to Disney World every Saturday to make sure that you don’t waste the day. We all have memories of those monumental events in our lives, but the small stuff counts just as much, if not more.Kids are smarter than us. They know what we’ve forgotten, even if they don’t know it.While no kid will turn down a bunch of awesome presents for Christmas or their birthday, what they really want is time. Our time. So stop making excuses, and start making time.We’ve only got 939 Saturdays to work with. Days to go for a hike, to bake cookies, to go swimming, to have a snowball fight, to color together, to make a paper airplane. Only 939 Saturdays to shape their childhood, to create memories, to help make them who they will be.Sure, you have other things to do. We all have other things to do. But when you think of those 939 Saturdays, all those other things seem rather insignificant, no? So prioritize time for your kids.939 Saturdays.Some of those Saturdays are lost. But some remain. Make sure you'll be able to look back on those Saturdays and say that they weren’t lost, but rather lived.PREVIOUS POST: I'm Back After Quitting the InternetIF YOU LIKED THIS POST I BET YOU'LL ALSO LIKE: My Daughter Graduated High School?
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