Time? What is Time?

I recently heard a story on NPR about time. It was pretty interesting. Turns out, now that I've looked it up online, it was originally from February 2005 even though I heard in this past December.

One part I found interesting was a discussion about clocks becoming common place. Apparently (stick with me) before railroads were widespread, there wasn't really standardized time around the country or even around town.

Que? Just because it was 10:00 in, say Town Hall, didn't mean it was 10:00 at the post office or the bank. At the bank, it could be 10:10. At the post office? 10:05. And the next town down the road? Forget about it. I can't imagine living in a world not time-regulated.

Hubby, on the other hand, apparently LIVES in a world that is not time-regulated. I have been married to this man over 18 years, and have yet to come to terms with his genetic predisposition to disregard time. He even joked today that his family is determined to constantly test time until they can prove their way is the right way.

All day today has been a test. I got up to briefly run up to the church to reset between the God-doesn't-really-get-up-that-early service, and the second service of the day. I really was there for about 20 minutes, just to clean up. I got a double take or two from individuals not used to seeing me at that time of day. My plan was to actually go back and attend service at 11:00. Long story short, didn't happen. There is actually a non-time related reason that I won't go into.

Anyway, being the true pagans that we are, the whole family got cleaned and dressed so that I could go back to the church AFTER the 11:00 service to clean up again AND go to lunch with some friends. I know, it's twisted. Anyway, I said "we need to leave at x time". Apparently, Hubby is totally unfamiliar with any phrase that could possibly have the word "o'clock" in it. I won't even go into the fact that I have to get 2 people ready while he only has himself.

Deep breath. I won't go further into all the annoyance I experienced. I JUST don't get it! I think my main complaint is that it's just rude. If I say to you, we need to leave at 10:45, don't treat that as a suggestion. Yes, I was very close to just leaving, but he was so close to being ready - and the girl slowed me down. UGH.

Later in the afternoon, Twinkle went to her first Libby Lu party. We had to be back at 5:45 to pick her up - so why not leave the Starbucks that is 5-7 minutes away depending on traffic AT 5:45?! True, we did have to stand around for 5-10 minutes while they changed out of their "street" clothes into their actual normal clothes. But we almost missed them all dressed up. He actually expected me to sit in Starbucks and have a calm, unstressed conversation without watching the clock "Can't you just relax and chat?" Yeah, can't you just respect my OCD with respect to time and NOT pass your disregard on to our child?

Let me just put the cherry on top of this sundae and say that Hubby actually gets annoyed and short with Twinkle when she dawdles and has no concept of time. Yeah. That makes sense. I have NO idea where she could possibly get that!

Yes, there are times when I could stress less, and I recognize those times and try to re-group. If I just pulled a leaving time out of thin air, OK, loosen the bone Wilma. There have been times that I've tried to be overly calm and laid back and just let things happen by Hubby time. It's really hard and we're always late and I end up annoyed anyway. I really am working to not stress over time, but what can I do? Sometimes, we actually have to be somewhere ON TIME. And I am apparently the only one in the house who can read a clock.