Lately, I've been feeling as if I need a break from the time crunched city-life so I decided to go to my Dad's place in the town that I grew up in: Benito, Manitoba. My dad owns an acreage in Benito, which is home to approximately 400 people. I love going 'back home' for many reasons - the endless open space, to see my horse, to visit old friends, and because when you're here, you run on what I like to call 'Benito time.'
Benito time doesn't require you to look at a clock or check your watch or cell phone. Benito time is based, strictly, on how you feel. If you want to show up at someone's house at a random hour, you can. You don't have to arrange a set time ahead of time. Just show up (last night I told my cousin Ross I'd probably pop over to his house sometime between seven and eleven, to which he replied "Okay, cool!" If you want to order a menu item that is normally reserved for breakfast-time for dinner (or as us small-town folk say, "supper") the restaurants here will accomodate that. All you gotta do is ask. If you go up town, you're guaranteed to run into at least five people you know who will keep you there for as long as you can talk because they care more about spending time with you than keeping track of time. Don't get me wrong, people here aren't completely clueless to the all-mighty concept of time - they show up to work on time, they take exactly an hour for lunch - they just worry less about what to do in their free time. And that's exactly what free time should be: free. Free of timed schedules and routine; free of running from destination to destination before closing time, free of, well, time. I think we could all stand to spend a little more time running on Benito time... especially us university students. It's not a coincidence I'm taking an online class that I can work on at anytime this semester. Here's a song that I think is very suiting to leave you with.
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