The person who made time made lots of it

On Friday I felt I had too much to do and not enough time to do it in. I considered not doing a column this week such was the shortage of time available to me.

Ah yes “time”, a most relevant word this week after all we saw the time change on Sunday morning and we all got an extra hour to do something.

All the lucky people got to sleep on for an hour but sadly others were up and using that time to try and catch up. It was a busy weekend in Loughglynn, and a very busy weekend for Lynn.

On Saturday wearing my Connacht GAA hat and blazer I was in Tubbercurry for the Connacht finals of Scór. GAA isn’t just football, handball, rounders or hurling, there’s the cultural side too, Scór is just as important as any other discipline.

As an officer of the provincial council, one is expected to do their duty there too. It’s not just turn up and go - everyone has a job to do and must be there on time and do their bit. The time that competitors have put in to prepare is astonishing and the proof is always to be seen in the performance.

Of course, with your club in a county final on Sunday the club secretary has bits and pieces to do and that was also eating into the time available to me. We never realise the organising that others do until the job falls to us and then we’re amazed at what others did and do.

If that wasn’t bad enough there was the tractor run on Monday in Loughglynn and yes Lynn was also involved there. Who’s fault? That of course is a question for another time, but maybe the word ‘No’ should be said now and again as some of us take on too much. Having little time for ourselves.

Medals for peddlers in the children’s run had to be collected, that means driving to Ballymoe, collecting, and returning home, it’s a Bank Holiday weekend so we must drive extra slowly and extra safely cause that’s what we’re told by the experts on the telly and the radio. They know everything, a bit like us opinionated people who write in newspapers.

If that wasn’t bad enough there were prizes from different organisations that were waiting to be collected, Ballyhaunis to collect one, somewhere else for another. Sometimes things aren’t ready, but we wait. Time brings patience sometimes!

Others were looking after cones and bollards, signs, and barriers, all to make an event safe. And of course, there was the stage for the band, you can’t do anything without a bit of music!

We were marching behind the Castlerea Brass and Reed band on Sunday in the Hyde. On Saturday in Tubbercurry we had music for the dancers, singers, and of course there was the instrumental music competition.

Then on Monday we had a Comhaltas Group and Carmel Mc Loughlin all there to entertain, allowing us to tap along in “time” to the music. Yes, “time” it’s everywhere.

We had some who were selling tickets as part of the fundraising drive, they were in Castlerea and Ballaghaderreen and they were successful on their day out. They gave up their time to help but told me that they had a great time.

The more I thought about it the more I realised that so many people donate so much of their time to their place. Money is great but time is better.

I wrote a few weeks ago about the volunteers in Tidy Towns and the great work they do. They are not alone, I see all the volunteers in the GAA who give their time to coaching teams, spreading the skills allowing others to enjoy their time through participating.

When all is over, we have time to reflect and always we remember joyfully the times we were busy, yes, we were under pressure, but we were involved and we got our kicks out of helping, belonging to the group, putting our little mark on things. Community is about spending time with others and for others. The clock is round because time keeps turning, and the person who made time made lots of it.

We’re so lucky that we have time to share, time to give and time to enjoy. I was just being selfish at the start of the weekend feeling I had no time, I had lots of it and was able to get everything done. I just made sure I slept for a shorter period and used the time available to do the rest of the jobs.

Thankfully I can sit down on Tuesday and Wednesday and try and recharge. School is off for the week, so I need to recharge the battery, that takes time.

It’s important though that we find time to do nothing, just relax and take all in. Bringing me conveniently back to one of my favourite poems, “Leisure” by Welsh poet W. H. Davies and the final lines “A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare”.