One More Notch

When I turned 40 my wife bought me a nice watch for my birthday. For awhile I thought of the watch like a boy who admires a trophy. Holding it, eyes glazed by the shiny new thing.

For awhile I thought of the watch as something that celebrated my life so far. Something that was "congratulatory".

But then I started to remember the life of my best friend, Gary, who died unexpectedly from a heart attack at age 49. It was then that I started to think of the watch very differently. It made me realize that my clock is ticking.  Not just my watch, but my life. Every day we move farther away from the beginning and closer to the end. That's not morbid. That's just a fact. And, it was on that day that I turned the bezel to 40.

The watch has a rotating bezel with 0-60 "marks" used to track minutes elapsed (like for diving). So, I set the top of the bezel at 40 (my age then) to remind me that I don't have much time left (relatively speaking).  Sure, I wish I could have set the bezel at "20".  But, the best time to plant an oak tree is 20 years ago. And, the second best time is today.

A couple years ago a friend of mine who is 10 years younger noticed my watch and wanted to know if it had any special significance. I told him it did. But, it wasn't significant like a trophy. Rather, it was significant like a yoke.

The watch morphed from something "congratulatory" into something "promissory". It was less about marking what I had accomplished and more about the urgency of what I needed to do.   Or, maybe better yet, who I needed to become.


It reminded me of...

How much I needed to grow.
How much I needed to work.
How much I needed to sweat.
How much I needed to love.
How much I needed to pray.
How much I needed to play.
How much I needed to give.
How much I needed to live.

Every time I look at my watch I can see the seconds ticking away.

Then minutes.
Then hours.
Then, at midnight, the date flips.

It's harder to see the years ticking away... but, then I look at the bezel.  It reminds me to get off my butt and get some work done... or play with my kids... or run a marathon... or read a book.... or call someone I love.

The bezel is now set at 42.  And, in 10 days I will turn it one more notch to 43.

One.
More.
Notch.

Every day.
Every hour.
Every minute.
Every breath.
Every laugh.
Every smile.


... is ticking forward in time.

The watch reminds me that there is no tomorrow.
There is only today.

Or more precisely,
there is only now.

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- TomMc