We rush about in our busy lives, working, socializing, raising our families, and taking care of our homes. We pay our bills and prepare our meals. We fill our cars up with gas, enjoy birthday celebrations and holidays with our families, shovel the snow off our walkways and mow our grass. Life goes on without a thought as time whizzes past us in a blur. The only time we celebrate the passage of time is on New Year's Eve, when the previous year becomes obsolete and the new year is full of promises to do things better. Most of our resolutions fall by the wayside as we get on with our busy lives. The hope and anticipation of the new year falls withers away as time goes by.

The children grow and need bigger clothes, the plant given to me for my birthday withers because a person without a green thumb is caring for it, the paint starts to peel on the house, the cobwebs gather under the beds and the couch cushions are decorated with minute bits and pieces of the snacks, meals, and dribbled drinks. Time goes on.

Hubby and I managed to get away last weekend to our tiny house in New Hampshire. Stress from everyday life stayed back in Rhode Island.  Time is irrelevant there, as we relaxed and let the worries slip silently away. Sitting outside with a cup of hot tea and the sun dappling down through the trees, my completely relaxed body and wandering eyes surveyed the surroundings. It was apparent that time had not stood still since the last time we were up in the snow; the flowers were peeking up through the dirt and the trees were budding. Why was that not proof enough that the winter had gone and the spring had arrived? The sunlight playfully danced among the trees, highlighting a nearby fir tree that caught my attention. Unlike the singular view of the flowers and other trees, the new growth on the fir trees mesmerized me. A lighter green in color, the inch-long lime green growth protruded from the end of the dark green branches. Each branch had visible changes demonstrating the passage of time. Proof of life! Proof that each moment in time is unique and meaningful. Proof that we, too, are always growing and changing, even if the change isn’t readily apparent. That small, exploding, colorful green growth on the fir tree was an unwitting testament to the eternity of change.

As silly as it sounds, those fir tree branches spurred me on. Unlike those New Year's resolutions, lofty in their goals and realistically unachievable in real life, my every day goals became more manageable; a walk around the block instead of the promise to exercise 30 minutes a day, eliminating daily snacks instead of the promise to lose 20 pounds, providing brown bag meals for those at Crossroads Rhode Island rather than feeling stress to feed the starving children in Africa. I vowed to smile more and let minor problems roll off my back. Life goes on, moment by moment. It is up to us to use that time wisely to make small changes that will benefit us. Just smiling at one another would be a start.