In reality the sands of time come along with a few pebbles. For some people some real rocks and for a select few, they get boulders. None of us get to choose what load we get from jump. But you do have the ability to throw rocks and boulders in your load as you go through life. And some of us stupidly (me included) have put some real boulders in the bed of our trucks from time to time in life.

I have so many boulders (failings) WordPress doesn’t have the space to list them all. So many in fact that I think I quality to run for President now. But back to the sand. One of the things I do at the beach while sitting there soaking up rays in a beach chair is reach down and grab handfuls of sand. They slip through the smallest crack no matter the pressure. It’s not natural to try to hold back the sands of time. But if you hold them too loosely, you lose it all in a flash only left with small traces. But if you hold it just right, they slowly stream from the bottom of your hand gently back to earth. You get to appreciate them passing. Your hand isn’t tense. They don’t make a sound. At one point it may stop and you may have more sand in your hand than if you were squeezing your hardest to make diamonds of it. To me it represents how we can go through life.

We can not hold onto it at all, and let it all slip from our grasp in short order. We can try to hang onto it too tightly, and not appreciate its beauty or even see its passing. Or we can live every day by letting it naturally exit our hands. Participating in the journey by grabbing a new handful at every point. Watching every moment as the sand slowly exits you fingers.

I’ve had some very special moments recently with my children and best friends. Time with them is living. And of course my better half. She is so much to me and I’d rather have nobody else at my side as those sands pass for both of us.

So I practice letting that sand slowly go from my hands over and over. I don’t count but its like a blanket to Linus. I just kind of reach down slowly, grab a handful of life each day. and practice appreciating it and being careful at its flow.

At times I have thought about having my ashes spread at the beach because I enjoy it so much. But then I think about all the out of shape butts that could be sitting on my face. Then I thought about having them spread in the ocean. Well Bin Laden F’ed that all to hell. So that search continues for that spot, but I hope I have many years ahead playing in that ocean sandbox and feeling that sand SLOWLY go from my hand.

You know, I think I’m going to get a shallow box and fill it with sand and put it under my desk. Sounds like a good thing to inspire writing and relax at the same time.