One of the great benefits of our sabbatical to Chile has been time.  In our everyday lives at home, we always feel cramped for time.  We go from work & school to activities and onto the next thing.  At home in Tuftonboro, we really attempt to have dinner together every night but games, practices, lessons, late night meetings all seem to creep into our time as a family.  Coffee is always in a to go mug.  It often seems like there is just not enough time ever.

But we have been granted this opportunity to have time (say this long like a sloth would ttttiiiiimmmmeee) here in Chile.  What a gift!  We all enjoy breakfast and our coffee & tea together each morning, we get dinner together and we get to really enjoy each other’s company.  We eat a two-hour meal out and don’t have to worry about leaving at a certain moment or worrying about staying caught up on our sleep. We go to a friends and it extends to spending the afternoon talking. Even our meetings and brainstorming for Belknap relationships are all about spending time together. This gift was immediate from the start of our trip but now as we get farther in, we can see it even more.

I (Steph) was on a run the other day with Tobin when it really hit me.  As we paced each other up a burly and beautiful hill, I (Steph) thought oh my gosh how did he get so old, is my youngest son now my running partner.  Where did the time go?  How did I get so lucky to be going for runs with my son? 

And interesting enough it is not that I did not get a chance to go for a run or xc ski with him at home.  Maybe the stress-free time has allowed me to really enjoy it and absorb it, to be present.  To have time to not only recognize, but feel and process what is happening creates a sense of gratefulness that is sometimes missed in my everyday life.  So time has allowed me to be present and grateful to have this relationship with my almost teenager.

In the summer, we talk about time frequently, two sayings you will hear a lot are:

 “Camp days are long, but the weeks are fast.”

And

“A day at camp is like a week outside of camp.”

The days do feel longer, the weeks do feel faster and so much seems to happen in a day at camp.  But is it more than what happens in a school day with practices and homework after school?  Probably not, but the difference is at camp, we are present, we are unplugged and we are fully immersed in the experience.  Being so present, certainly creates a different perspective on time.

Yes, in reality, we all experience time at the same pace, but maybe the feeling we have about how much time is all based on present.

Having the great fortune to be present, sure has been nice, and certainly created more time.