Timing.............

I've been thinking about Time lately. Not the magazine, the concept. How certain events in our lives never lose their impact on us from year to year. For example, I know that each generation has a Landmark Event - a "Where Were You When" event that defines them. These events overlap from generation to generation, but there is always one, defining,  Primary Event. For our parents it was Pearl Harbor. For us, the Kennedy Assassination. For our children, September 11th. These are the Times that we will always remember.

There are also personal events. Take, for instance, the death of a family member. We had a memorial mass on Saturday to mark the third anniversary of one in our family, and I could see that several of the other attendees still felt the loss as keenly as they did back then.

I guess Time doesn't always heal all wounds.

And, of course, there are the happy events that still thrill us every year, such as a wedding or a birth. I can admit to reliving my transplant experience every November 24th.

I find it interesting that these events - these Times - can still affect us years after they actually occurred.
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But it's not just Time, it's Timing. On a daily basis, we tend to do the same things at the same times. We get up, we eat, we exercise (or not), we go to bed, usually at the same time every day. Any change to these routines can throw us off, and we feel disoriented. And sometimes we try to compensate for this. If we stayed up too late one night, we'll probably go to bed early on the next one.

Human nature.

I stayed up late (for me) Sunday night to watch the Oscars, and got up at my usual time on Monday. Therefore, I went to bed early last night. Unfortunately, all that did was see me get up very early this morning.

I drove up towards Avenel and remembered, too late, that they were working on Avenel Street and it was closed to traffic. I had to take some unfamiliar back roads to get over to St. George's Avenue. That's where I came up behind this guy.

I figured that he was heading towards the train station and, because of the road work, had to go this way. We were the only ones around. I was still having trouble with the windows, but that didn't bother me anymore.

Point, press, Flash.

I continued on towards St. George, and turned left. I drove back through Woodbridge, and turned right onto Main Street.

I turned into the Wegman's/Loewe's shopping area, and turned up into the smaller lot to the left of Wegman's. Up ahead, I saw this woman walking to her car.

I slowed, looking around. It was still early and this section of the lot was practically empty. I took the chance and drove toward her, keeping her on my driver's side. She opened her passenger side door just as I passed her, probably to put her package inside.

Point, press, Flash.

I drove out, turned right onto Woodbridge Center Drive, then left onto Route 1. I stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts for a bagel and coffee, then continued on through Edison and Metuchen.

I parked in the back lot of a strip mall in South Plainfield and just walked around a bit. I thought I was the only one around until this guy rounded the corner up ahead of me.

He was coming towards me. I walked toward him. We were the only one's around. As we passed, we nodded to each other.

Point, press, Flash.

I went back to my car, and headed towards Metuchen again. I still had about a half an hour before the library so I'd stop somewhere and get the paper. Maybe do the crossword puzzle.

I came across each of these people today because I'd gotten up early this morning.

Sometimes, it's all about the Timing.