A girl sits in her room and she dreams of a time when she can make her own decisions and live on her own.  Why do her parents always tell her she needs to spend time with them?  Just a few more years and she will be an adult.  She says to herself, “Then I’ll be able to do all of the things I want to do.”

A woman shuffles the papers on her desk.  The work never seems to end.  She wishes she had more time to do the things she’s always wanted to do.  She’d like to see her friends, but they are also busy with careers of their own.  They are each working long hours, planning weddings, and saving to buy a house.

A mother holds her crying baby in her arms and reaches for a bottle hoping that this will soothe her.  She thinks of all the things she needs to get done today, but the thought of what it takes just to go food shopping overwhelms her.  “Someday,” she promises herself, “I will have the time to do the things I want to do.”

A mother drives her car, in the past few hours she has picked up her children from their schools, dropped them off at lessons and practices, and now she’s returning to pick them all up.  They have homework to do, tests to prepare for, papers to be written.  She thinks of what she will make for dinner, it has to be quick, the kids have more lessons and practices they need to be at after dinner.  She wonders when she will find time for herself.

A woman looks through a photo album filled with old pictures.  She sees photos of her parents and thinks about how much she misses them.  She turns the page and sees pictures of her old friends and wonders where they are now.  She turns another page and there are her babies, fat and pink and oh so sweet.  She wonders how the years passed so quickly.  Her children are grown now.  She looks around herself and thinks, “I have so much time, I can do anything I want to do.”  But, suddenly, she realizes that all that she really wants, is to turn back time.

http://www.theresadodaro.com   Author of The Tin Box Trilogy