Not enough time

Jim Croce sang about wishing he could save time in a bottle and then spend it with his love at their convenience. But the song continues: “[T]here never seems to be enough time, To do the things you want to do once you find them” Spring is a busy time of year. It is an especially busy time when it comes to lives of reporters at community newspapers such as The Star News.

I am convinced that just last week, the compressor was being turned off for the season at the curling club and that we were waiting impatiently for the last snowbanks to melt.

Somehow, the past six weeks have passed in a flurry of activity. Dozens of meetings, events, spring concerts, a play or two, some banquets and now, this week the crashing end of the school year with graduations to be followed by Memorial Day and then on to those golden days of summer.

As I have gotten older, I have found that time slips away faster and faster. It is a peculiar thing really. I remember clearly waiting what seemed like days for my high school biology class to crawl to a finish. Yet in reality it was only 50 minutes or so, which now would get me barely past the first agenda item for a typical school board meeting.

I find myself looking outside the narrow window by desk at my office and being surprised that the sun has set, when moments ago I swore it was morning.

This Friday night, I will stand and take pictures at graduation ceremonies. I will dart around capturing smiles and tears and every emotion in between.

I know from personal experience how terrifying it is to have a child graduating. They are so young and barely know anything. How can we let them out into the world?

It is at times like that, I need to remind myself that the kids are going to be all right and that there is nothing any of us can do to stop them from taking their place as adults.

I ask someone to please remind me of that advice 12 months from now when I am counting the moments until my son’s graduation. Of course, there is plenty of time to worry about that, 12 months is a world away.

This week we welcome back Arrielle as a reporter. People may remember her from being an intern at The Star News last summer.

She hit the ground running this week covering a city council meeting on her first day and will be all around the county sharing stories and covering events in the coming months.

With any luck, this means I will be able to eventually take a day off and sit by a camp fire sipping whiskey and brewing beer. I find it helps, if I keep that image in my mind. I’ll let you know come September if I was able to get away for more than an afternoon.

We cannot save time. No matter how much we may want to. It is necessary for each of us to make the time for what is important.

Robin update

As regular readers will remember, my family’s (precarious at best) mental health was being driven over the edge earlier this spring with Robbie the Robin attempting to assert dominance by attacking his reflection in our window.

Following the suggestions of readers, we put up barriers to keep Robbie from bashing into the window. This seemed to help, at least for that window. Robbie persisted in his attacks switching to other windows.

I was beginning to think that it was something personal and that he just didn’t like us. My daughter began to feel the same way when she would get dive-bombed on her way to school each morning.

I am thinking that Robbie was too busy getting the early worm to harass the rest of us when we would leave the house much earlier than her.

It seems much more likely that Robbie found a Mrs. Robin. A few weeks ago a well-crafted nest appeared in the shrub next to my front path and early last week a collection of bright-blue eggs appeared there.

Mrs. Robin, who I have taken to calling Ramona, has been sitting on these eggs most of the time. Since the nest is slightly below eye level inches away from the main entrance in and out of my house, it is a challenge to not disturb Ramona Robin in her motherly duties.

I expect that soon there will be the cheep, cheep, cheep of baby birds as Robbie and Ramona’s family grows.

I will keep you posted on any developments.

Brian Wilson is News Editor at The Star News.