We often talk about the evolution of the species and how, over time, animals change and adapt to their environment.  Recently, I was thinking about the evolution of Time.  We never get one second more, but it may seem like we gain more time based on how we use it.  It is interesting that in today’s world we have the technology and machinery to complete tasks that in the past took a lot more time.  With this, it seems that we now have more time to do other things, making us believe that we have more time.

As my thoughts ponder time, I realize that it does evolve within the environment we live.  This was brought to light when visiting my granddaughter in Park City at a Condo where they were staying.  As I was talking with her, she said, “Grandpa, come and look at this phone, it has buttons on it.”  She had never seen push buttons on a phone.  I wonder what she would think if she saw a phone with a rotary dial?  I had to smile at her excitement about seeing this old phone and then I thought of the changes I have seen through my life and even more astounding are the changes my parents have witnessed in theirs.  We are looking at just four generations and it is amazing how the use of time has changed over these 80 years.

My Father talks about sleeping in a small room attached to their house where the wind would blow through, cold in the winter and warm in the summer.  Their bathroom was an outhouse, which required a short walk outside in both hot and cold weather.  During the summer, flies would inhabit the small room and during the winter, frost bite was close.  No nice bathroom with a flushing toilet, nice bathtub or sink with running water.  Their running water was only in the kitchen.  Today, he and my mother live in a very nice townhouse, with 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms and other luxuries that a lot of us enjoy in our lives today.

Then, I consider what has happened in the last 57 years, my life time.  I leaned to type on a manual type writer and was excited to use an electric type writer.  I remember my father buying his fist calculator, doing simple math, with a single memory location, for about $70.  How exciting it was to get our first microwave oven and how we burned the inside of our cookies by letting them cook too long.  The acceleration of technology has given us an amazing amount of knowledge and what seems to be more time in our lives.

So, I ask this question of myself, “How do I use this time that has been given to me?”  The answer is that I do not always use this commodity in the best possible way.  I have a lot of things I want to do, but I seem to procrastinate items on my To Do list.  It is all about priorities and determining what is most important, but at times, it seems my priorities sometimes focus on the less important items or those I find fun to do.  Might I make this one comment, there is no higher priority for our time than that of our family.