The Day that Time Stood Still

The Day that Time Stood Still

December 7, 1999, the day that time stood still. Well, not exactly, but kinda sorta. At the time (pun intended), I was working for a housecleaning service. I had two regular clients scheduled, both with a large house and four hours to get the job done. At noon, I had one hour to eat and drive to the next house. Normally, this wouldn’t stress me out, but on this day, I also had two appointments after cleaning the second house. When I left my house in the morning, I knew that a fifteen minute delay at any stop would cause me to be late at the other appointments.

At the first house, I kept fretting about the time. I was constantly going to the den to check the wall clock. Even though I knew I was wasting more time trekking back and forth to the den, I was obsessed. On the fourth journey, I noticed the den clock had stopped. That put me in a small panic, since it was the only clock in that section of the house. What a time for the battery to die!

I continued on with my pattern, clean a little, then take a further jog to the kitchen to check the clock. More time wasted. On my second trip to the kitchen, the kitchen wall clock also stopped! That was freaky because it was an electric clock. But, no problem because the clock on the microwave still worked. That is until the second time I scurried in to check the time. That is when I realized that each of the clocks had stopped the moment I entered the room.

A few minutes later, I went into their bedroom to put away the laundry, that clock stopped as soon as I looked at it. I laughed and said, “Okay, okay, I get the message!” I was reminded of other times when I would overstress about time and my watch would stop. In fact, that is why I had stopped wearing watches. That morning, I had planned to wear my watch but the battery had died.

I began to relax and chill out. Not one clock in the house was working, so I went about with my regular routine. Whenever I clean a house, I always do a final run to be sure lights are off and everything is put away, house locked, etc. I had to laugh because as I entered each room, the clocks were once again working. Not only that, but the time was correct, even the den wall clock, which typically was a few minutes off.

The rest of the day was uneventful and I arrived at each place right on time. I have never looked at time the same way since. On that day, I gave up my obsession about arriving fifteen minutes early. I also began to loosen up time constraints and deadlines that I imposed on myself. One less stress in my life was a welcomed relief.

Over time, I have discovered that even if I was running late, the timing when I arrived was always perfect. If not, I adjusted my attitude, because no one else seemed to care. A few times I also noticed that I had avoided an accident because I was running early or a few minutes late. I learned to be more relaxed, appreciating “Divine Timing,” which landed me in the right place, at the right time, often with a better outcome than what I had planned.

Have you had some freaky time experiences?
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