This is my Appalachian Trail watch.  It’s apparently rather light for a watch like this, and its face glows at night.  It’s also waterproof.

The Velcro closure started to break down about three weeks into my hike.  I think it was because I was getting DEET insect repellent on it and the chemicals were dissolving the little plastic hooks on the Velcro.

So on week four or so I sewed a new little Velcro patch onto the watchband, and that lasted for the rest of the hike, and it’s still working today.

Can you see the chip in the face at 10:00?  That happened in Maine.  I was hiking alone around one of the ponds- West Carry Pond.  It was a beautiful warm sunny afternoon and I hadn’t yet swum in a pond in Maine.  It has to be pretty warm for me to want to jump into a cool body of water, so I didn’t swim in every pond I saw.  I decided that this was a good day to jump in a Maine pond – I didn’t want to hike the whole AT and not be able to claim that I’d swum in a pond in Maine.

So I stripped down to my skivvies and waded in among the large mossy rocks.  Then for some unknown reason, I decided to take off my watch.  My waterproof watch.  I guess I didn’t feel like having a wet watchband?  I was already about ten feet away from the rock where my clothes and shoes and gear were, so I decided I’d just toss the watch onto the pile of clothes.

But I missed.  And I heard a clank as the watch landed face down on the granite rock.  Alas.  I’d nicked the watch face.  With over 800 miles of trail left to go.  Nothing could be done. I just finished my little wade/swim and dried out on the rock like a mermaid for a while, then hiked on.

The pretty Maine pond where I took a little swim and dinged my watch

These days, the watch doesn’t seem to mind being in the rain, but  I wouldn’t subject it to a swim anymore.  It kept perfect time throughout the rest of my hike and for the next two years, until a couple of weeks ago.  I guess the battery finally died.

So until I replace the battery, I’ve been watch free.  Relying, as so many do, on my cell phone. And watching time pass ever more quickly.  What happened to November? How can it be almost over? Well, there was a week at the beach, and a weekend in Phoenix, and an overnight in Mississippi, but still it went so fast!

If you celebrate Christmas, do you remember how SLOWLY December went when you were a small child?  How it seemed that Christmas would never arrive?  And now, as an adult, how it seems December is gone in the blink of an eye?  How do I slow down December or any month?  I think it’s about being fully present in each moment.  Easy for children to do  – harder for those of us who are planning, scheduling, thinking ahead, looking back – living moments before we get to them so that we miss the moments we’re in.

Hmm.  Maybe I can make that a goal for December.  To live in the moment enough that December seems to stretch on and on and on.  I’ll keep you posted with how well my experiment goes!