My wife and I have been traveling back and forth to upstate New York where her elderly parents live in order to make sure everything is alright, or to be there when one of them is sick or in the hospital. Like many their age they wish to remain at home, whether it’s the best idea or not. We were there two weeks ago and had just got back into the swing of things back home when we learned my wife’s father was in the hospital again.

We’ve been here for almost a week now, and when we will be leaving is pretty much an open-ended situation. Once you get finished taking care of all the things that need to be fixed, talking to caregivers and the VA, and making sure his car still runs because it hasn’t been started in over a month, there really isn’t much left to do other that go back and forth to the hospital several times a day and say some encouraging things at random moments.

Watching him in his weakened state and having a good idea what the likely prognosis is put me in a bit of a funk, causing me to wonder what I could possibly write about. I mentioned this to my wife. As we boarded the hospital elevator to go to the lobby she wisely suggested the idea of how precious time is.

By the time the doors opened I knew what I wanted to say. I began to thank about how this issue had actually been bothering me since we got here but because of everything happening I had tried to push it out of my mind … I couldn’t.

Watching him, I knew … and he knew … that there wasn’t a huge amount of time left. Despite a life lived, what could have been done, now could not be. How much of that life was wasted in terms of accomplishing the things that really mattered? Of course I immediately thought about myself.

I’ve wasted a lot of time in my life when I could have been more productive. It’s not hard for me to admit it. The reasons are many, some reasonable, many foolish, but in any case, far too many to bore you with. Now I’m 62 and it both saddens and scares me. Not so much because of the time squandered and the lost opportunities, but because I realize now that there is less time left. Maybe you have thought about this too. If not, perhaps you should … no matter how old or young you are.

I thought about my photography students at the Center for Learning in Retirement. Some are in they’re Eighties. They’re active and don’t want to waste any of their time. They want to explore the world around them and capture that which excites them. Their objectives range from keeping a visual diary to creating meaningful art. It doesn’t matter. They’re wise and have discovered that every personally meaningful moment is important … and yes … precious.

Our precious photographic time should not be squandered. Forget about the time you have already wasted. It’s gone. What’s left is all the time you have. Don’t waste it. Use it with purpose. It’s precious.