They say time is a thief that comes in the night to steal away your youth.

Some say that time is a circle that revolves as the earth revolves around the sun. Some say time is a currency given at birth for us to spend in ways wise or foolish. The scientists say time cannot be separated from space. Without time there can be no beginning and no end.

I say time is a magician, a shape shifter that can stretch itself out to the edge of eternity or contract to a nano second.

It can race by at the speed of light. At other times it seems to slow down to a point of seeming almost stationary. In a way its our own perception that makes the difference.

They say time flies when you’re enjoying what ever it is you may be doing. But if you find your activity tedious and uninteresting time does give the impression of coming to a standstill. Finding our own natural rhythm makes time our dance partner in whatever we do. When we appreciate our daily tasks in that manner time becomes our friend instead of our master.

The great luxury of retirement is to be able to take as much time as I want to savor the gift of the present moment. I want to know when the sands in my hour glass run out, I have not failed to notice the beauty of the autumn rose or enjoyed the antics of my resident squirrels or noticed the subtle changes that mark the change of seasons. I want to know I always found time to laugh, to visit with my neighbors, to confer love on everything and everybody that has shared my journey.

In all of these ways I have made time not my enemy but my friend.