I’m\u00a0a pretty bad judge of\u00a0time.\u00a0 I think\u00a0it’s been a week since so-and-so happened, but I find out\u00a0it’s been a month.\u00a0 That can be bad if I think the bill arrived a few days ago, but really, it’s been a few weeks.\u00a0 Here is a phrase I truly believe whenever I say it:\u00a0“Honey, I’ll be done in five minutes.”\u00a0 I think she’d rather hear a more accurate, I’ll be done in one hour,” than a misjudged shorter period of time.\u00a0 I’m especially bad at judging garden time.<\/p>\n
My wife picked me up at the Metro after work a while back so we could drop by Smith to water it.\u00a0 That’s all we were going to do that evening.\u00a0 After the long string of August-like rainless broilers we’d had around here, poor Smith needed a drink, and a little weeding too.\u00a0\u00a0Well o.k., maybe more than a little weeding.\u00a0\u00a0I understate weeds like I underestimate time.\u00a0 So my wife watered while I weeded.\u00a0 Actually we both watered, since she had found a second hose.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Some time later, driving away, I asked how long we’d spent there.\u00a0 About an hour, she said.\u00a0 It could have been ten minutes or three hours as far as I was concerned.\u00a0 Gardening insulates me from what little sense of time I do have.\u00a0 I’m never really ready to leave the garden, even when I’ve finished whatever tasks needed doing.\u00a0 Didn’t I just get here?\u00a0 It can’t be time to leave, yet.<\/p>\n
About a week after that I went to water Smith again.\u00a0 I decided to admit to myself that watering alone takes one full hour.\u00a0 Add weed pulling\u00a0or harvesting and suddenly I’m at 90 minutes or more.\u00a0 Maybe setting my expectations will help me judge the time better.\u00a0 The trouble is I could say to myself I’m going to go water, but once I’m there\u00a0\u00a0 it’s too easy to putter around in the garden, pulling weeds, tying back or training plants, even just admiring all the growing going on.\u00a0 As soon as that happens five minutes gains weight and becomes fifteen, then fattens up a bit more to thirty and soon I’m a goner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m\u00a0a pretty bad judge of\u00a0time.\u00a0 I think\u00a0it’s been a week since so-and-so happened, but I find out\u00a0it’s been a month.\u00a0 That can be bad if I think the bill arrived a few days ago, but really, it’s been a few … Continue reading