My late father Fred Penn, was always a stickler for time. He always had to be punctual and would leave extra early to make sure he was never late.  It used to drive us all crazy because we would have to go along with him and we never understood why it was so important to him.

When we are younger we squander time because we believe we have so much of it. As we get older, our time becomes so much more valuable… each year, month, day, hour, minute, and second.  I always remembered my father’s obsession with time and began to appreciate the value he placed on it the older I became.

I began to think of us all as walking clock faces, ticking away.

At any time that clock could stop and we would never know when that was going to happen. The good news is we can control when that will be to a certain extent, with attention to our lifestyle choices. But there is always the unexpected and all of us have experienced the sudden loss of those close to us. The younger that person is the more shocking and the more impactful. Illness, car accident, airplane crash, war, suicide.

The sudden death, the devastation to the soul, the instant maturity.

Time is the most valuable commodity we own. It is the only thing on earth that can’t be replaced. Once it is gone it is gone never to come back.  The combination of my words along with the illustration is designed to give the reader a wake-up call, to give the visual that every living being, not just the elderly, but the parents, the children, the new borns and the pets too, have a clock face that can never be detached, never be removed, never be frozen.

Be aware of this clock. Wake up earlier, sleep a little later. Squeeze everything you can from the day. Don’t waste your time with those people who don’t respect yours, who are always late for meetings or appointments with you. And you respect their time too. No excuses. Leave earlier or set a personal alarm on your phone to remind you you promised to call at a specific time.

Spend more time with your family, the most rewarding time of all. Work will carry on after your death. Everyone is replaceable. Work to live, don’t live to work.

Don’t wait until you’re older to create your bucket list. Create it NOW and make as many of your dreams come true while you are able to enjoy them. Our time on this earth is short. No one knows what is around the corner and as the cliche quite rightly says…”live each day like it’s your last.”

“When your clock stops….it can never be repaired.”