“Time has no meaning in itself unless we choose to give it significance.“

— Leo Buscaglia

I sat with my daughter, investing time.

She is a bit behind the homework eight ball and has been trying to avoid getting stuck in the procrastination pocket. At our parent teacher conference she asked reluctantly for my wife Melissa and I to keep her on track. One of the things that seems to help her focus is to have someone nearby. So yesterday, I sat with her at the dining room table.

In order to avoid helicoptering, I kept busy at another task. Ironically, while my daughter shuffled her school books, I also shuffled books.

We are in the middle of a major remodel at our house, and in preparation, two overflowing book cases need to be moved. As I pulled the books off the shelves, I came across the usual of assortment of meaningless paperbacks and hardbacks. But among the rabble, two types of books had special meaning – books I read to my children, and books my father read to me. The books with a shared connection. Those are the books I still treasure.

An investment of time today is the memory of tomorrow. If we spend more of our time cultivating a connection with others, we’ll build a treasure chest of memories that we can have for all of our days. It’s like throwing a coin in a treasure chest. The more time invested with an open heart and mind; to engage one another not on our terms, but on shared terms; the larger the coin and the greater the treasure.

My daughter certainly won’t remember me sitting with her yesterday. (Does anyone want to remember their homework?) I’ll probably forget it as well. It was just a couple hours of my time and an investment in her future. Plus, a small coin in my treasure chest of memories.

At the end of my days, I hope I’ve filled only one chest.

A treasure chest of memories.

Yesterday’s gift of time … Sat with my daughter while she did her homework. An investment in her future; an investment in memories.