March 10, 2002

Welcome to Wyndspirit Dreams! A year or so ago I ran across an article that has stuck with me ever since. According to the article, the new status symbol of the wealthy is time. Instead of bragging about how busy they are, it seems that now the wealthy say things like, "My secretary knows better than to interrupt me during my golf game!" Instead of bragging about how little sleep they get by on, they insist on getting a full eight hours. It’s the rest of us poor souls who have to scramble and sacrifice time and sleep to make ends meet. The rich have the luxury of time to sleep and relax. The truly important are so important they can take time to not be busy.

And you know what? I think they are finally catching on to what’s really important. I don’t envy a person with lots of money the way I envy a person with lots of time. Time is the ultimate luxury. Time to sleep, time to pursue hobbies, time to be with family, time to do whatever you feel like doing.

I used to be rich in time. I had almost no money to spend, but I had time to read anything I got my hands on, write endless silly stories, spend days inventing fancy crocheted Barbie dresses, even do puzzle after puzzle. Think about it… What is a bigger time waster than a jigsaw puzzle? You spend hours or days putting it together, only to take it all apart again and put it back in a box on the shelf. That was my thinking time, my daydreaming time.

While other people dream about having a fancy house or a new car, I dream about having time. How wonderful it would be to be rich in time once more! Unfortunately, this is the real world, and I will most likely never again be that rich in time. However, just because I’m not rich doesn’t mean I can’t have anything at all. I steal time where I can. I sacrifice sleep to go visiting. I let the dishes pile up while I read a good book. I only care about cleaning off the kitchen table so I can put a puzzle on it. Yes, a totally time-wasting puzzle! And then I put on some good music and work on my puzzle. The dishes pile up some more and the floor goes unvacuumed, but for a day or two I am rich in time once more. Then I put away the puzzle, and start thinking about dishes and vacuuming once more, but I return to the real world feeling just a little better than I did before. It's good to know that I can still become rich in time, even if only for a little while.