“If I could save time in a bottle,” sang singer-song-writer Jim Croce in his 1972 hit single. The opening line was both insightful and a bit haunting.

Insightful because it posed a dilemma we all face. We can hoard money but not time (not in a bottle or a bank). Use it now or it’s gone—forever.

Haunting because Croce composed the song just a year before he died in a small plane crash, at age 30.

I think of Croce’s words these days. Most of my life I’ve been a planner. Still am. But what happens when it comes time to live the plan, the way a child would live it, freely, joyfully, unencumbered with thoughts of the future?

Last night, Charlotte and I sat on the porch and listened to the thunder—for a long while.

Until I picked up this legal pad and started to write.

Hey, it’s a start.