yesterday...

My grandmother used to refer to time as "the enemy". I'm probably about the age now that she was when she said that (probably for the umpteenth time) and it stuck in my mind. She lived to a wonderful 86 years, and was photographed out digging in her garden only six weeks before she died.

This morning I have been thinking about time. Next Tuesday (or is it Wednesday?) I will have been living in Italy as an elective resident for five years. I look back on what I have achieved, and suddenly what trials might be ahead of me diminish. These last six years (in May) since I bought my apartment and set about becoming an Italian resident has been an adventure, a huge learning curve, emotional ups and downs, a wonderful experience.

Why am I thinking about time? Yesterday I managed to sweep my watch up with the sheets and washed it in the longest cycle of the washing machine, and at a reasonably high temperature. I was sure it was going to be a sad goodbye to the watch that has served me so well for so many years. It's not a particularly special watch, I think I paid $NZ80 for it in a sale many moons ago. Not a lot, as watches go. But I like it. It is comfortable, forgiving, and apparently resilient.

Yes, miraculously it still goes. Time flies, time washes and dries, time is my friend, not my enemy! I too am resilient, and will tick along happily no matter what life throws at me :-)

Today I am grateful for things that work well.