Summer is in full swing. Once the 4^th of July holiday has come and gone, it seems that summer speeds along. With many schools starting by early August, the lazy days of summer soon come to an end. Before Fall descends on us with all of its busyness, it is a good time to take stock of how close we are to our 2021 commitments. This year is more than half over, and the rest of the year, with its holidays, will pass quickly. Time is one resource that once spent cannot be recovered.

Think back to the beginning of 2021. Granted, we had some unknowns at that time, the most significant of which was COVID-19. We hoped for widespread vaccines, but we had not achieved such at that point. Since that time, many people have been vaccinated and much of life has returned to some sense of normalcy. While most countries are not completely virus free, people in the U.S. do have hope that our lockdown has ended. Travel domestically and even internationally has resumed.

A previous blog of mine posed the question, “If you only knew?” If you only knew, what would you have done differently? If you only knew that COVID-19 would take at least a year of your life, what would you have done differently? Would you have spent your time differently?

We do know that time is not promised, whether it is taken from us or changed. We do know on some level that time is finite, that we are not promised anything past this very moment and this breath. Does that knowledge change anything? Or do we rock along, oblivious to this gift of life? The recent and unexpected passing of my dear Uncle Barry, who was my most constant father figure for almost seventy years, has made it impossible for me to take life for granted. But knowledge is only valuable if it spurs us to action. Knowledge for knowledge’s sake alone is useless.

It amazes me that I am almost seventy years old. It amazes me that I have much more life behind me than in front of me. I remember the shock of turning 50 years of age. These past twenty years passed in the blink of an eye. I can only assume that whatever years I have remaining will go even faster. At their end, what will be left? What will be my legacy? What do I WANT to be my legacy? Whatever that is, I best get started living it.

If thinking of one’s legacy is too much of a stretch, let’s go back to thinking of our 2021 commitments. Let’s start there and do our best to keep those commitments while we have some of 2021 left. While we still have some time.