Having children gives you a new perspective on time and how we manage the things we do within the time we have.

Just when you’re about to sit down with that well-deserved cup of tea, the phone rings. It’s the school secretary. Yup. Your kid has a tummy ache. Again. How fast can you get here?

Or you’re trying to capture that elusive thought on paper. You know. The one that’s dancing the tango in your mind? Suddenly, one of your offspring bursts through the door with the latest drama. You wave the thought good-bye (and you swear it snickers as it departs) as you turn your attention to your child.

The immediacy of children is not something you prepare for. It simply is. And you deal with it as best you can.

So when my casting agency suggested I vie for a TV commercial for Ferrero Rocher (they make Nutella, too), I welcomed the chance to move outside the four walls of my home office to a place of more regulated insanity. A TV studio versus homework woes? I’m there. At least for a time.

Then the school sent home one of its infamous memos  that are always last-minute. Can you make it to the parent-teacher conference in two days? Umm… Tuesday?

Hmmmm…I was supposed to be tasting chocolate on screen at that time…my husband could go, but then the kids would be home alone. The babysitter might have time…before I got too detailed in my thinking, I decided to give it up to the Time Gods. They knew how to handle it. I sat back and waited.

Then the casting agency called back to confirm my bid was rejected. I was free to sit on little chairs on Tuesday evening and listen to the teachers wax poetic (or not) about my kid.

Time flow is not something you control. What you can do is buoy down its river, splash in the pond of possibility, and watch your life unfold.

Just as it should.

Every time.