Knowing that my major contribution was in just two parts - the idea itself and proofreading the final pages - it is embarrassing to recognize how very much work everyone else did. I felt overwhelmed. They were overwhelmed. But they did not complain. The team put out our 12 Shoppers every month as usual and the Storybook.

Until the project of a coffee table book telling the stories of the businesses and nonprofits and the city's history in text and photos came to reality, I thought I always had time for what was truly important in my life. It was in the midst of finishing up the Storybook in time to meet the printing deadline that I believed I had not one extra hour, if not one extra minute!

It's not true, however. There is always time available. What there is not always is the perception that we have some time. I know I had more time, but I felt I did not. While I knew there was some unscheduled time, I believed the only thing I could handle was doing nothing - nothing.

Whether it is fortunate or unfortunate that I believed I could not do one more thing in a day, I am not yet decided. But I do know I had never before gone for weeks/months thinking I was expending my last ounces of energy.

Just when I think I have some concept figured out, I see another side of it. That's what happened this year. Life has ways of taking unexpected turns and letting us glimpse something new. Whether or not we take advantage of new information and incorporate it into our life's philosophy is up to each one of us.

I remain convinced that we can all find time for what we really want...basically....

Jean Loxley-Barnard has been a writer all her life and studied both sociology and psychology at George Washington University where she earned a B.A. Her company, The Shopper, Inc., encompasses all the Loxley-Barnard family publications - The Shopper Magazines and Doctor to Doctor Magazine. She has been in the advertising, consulting and publishing business for 39 years.