“Guard well your spare moments.
They are like uncut diamonds.
Discard them and their value will never be known.
Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.”
~~~Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Free time” or “me time” seems to have become a more precious commodity since I’ve gotten older. And, it’s even more important now, after our recent brutal Winter, where I felt I lost my independence somehow, after the constant snow and ice kept me, the Winter Wienie, sequestered in the house most of the season. Well, now that Spring has finally sprung, I am guarding my “me time” and trying to get my daily walk accomplished no matter what. Today I needed a few items at the grocery store, and, though it would do the car good to hop in and give it a three-mile whirl, my produce was certainly something I could carry (even if the oranges and bananas do make me list to one side while I walk home). So, this morning I moseyed to Meijer and thus garnered almost four more miles to add to my total miles walked in 2014 by the time I made the round trip from home, trekked through the produce department, through the U-scan and across the massive parking lot. Whew! I have to pass a donut shop along the way. I am always a bit amused by their marquis sign proclaiming: “It’s Me Time”. This donut shop is the local watering hole where a group of older men gather daily over coffee and donuts to try to fix the world’s woes. Whenever I pass that donut shop, which sits on a fairly busy corner, I always wonder if there is a comparable venue where the older gals might convene to discuss world affairs and diss their significant other at the same time? Well, perhaps the answer to that query would be the good, old-fashioned beauty parlor, where the ladies often sit in a semi-circle underneath huge, hard-bonnet hair dryers which cover their ears, as well as curlers or bobby-pinned pin curls, while the hot air that whooshes out dries the hairdo-in-progress. The camaraderie of these women exists as they catch up on gossip, exchange recipes or complain about their better half, but usually most of the stories are missed or must be re-told, since they must raise their voices to be heard over the relentless din of the high-decibeled dryer. But … that is the ladies’ “me time” just as the older gents enjoy their break with their buddies. We all need our “me time” … no matter what form it takes. The two signs in this picture above say: “It’s Me Time” and “Walk” … well, I made the time and thanks for the “suggestion”!