Had a chat with a friend today and she happened to mention that she never ate breakfast at home. 

I asked her why.  

“It’s the time thing,” she told me.

Genius!  

Naturally I recognized the power of “the time thing” right away.  From now on, whenever my wife asks me to take out the garbage, I’m gonna say no.

“Why not?” she’ll ask me.

“It’s the time thing,” I’ll tell her.

Same with bosses.  ”Can you do this assignment for me, Joe?”

“‘Fraid not,” I’ll tell them. “I’d love to, of course, if it weren’t for the time thing.”

The trick is not letting the time thing get out of hand.  Which, of course, it already has.  I would blog more, for instance, were it not for the time thing.  I would hang out with my family more.  I would play more games, learn the guitar, finish my novel, perfect my French, learn Ojibway, exercise, maybe even floss were it not for the damn time thing.

I get where my friend’s coming from.  Still, she should probably squeeze in the most important meal of the day.  Which I’ll tell her the next time I see her.  If I remember, which I probably won’t.

(It’s the age thing…)