Time

Time is just plain weird. Some days drag by, but the years fly. How can these both happen?

For example, I had a dental appointment today. Just a cleaning. It seemed to last four hours, even though it took just over 45 minutes.

Remember being a child and how Christmas Eve seemed to last 478 hours? Now, it seems like Easter was just a few days ago but summer is almost over.

Oddly, 1975 was 50 years ago. 50! How did that happen?! 50 years ago today, I was getting ready to start eighth grade. School shopping had been completed, and I was really looking forward to ending my summer babysitting job. Looking back on who I was then, it does seem like a really long time ago. At other times, it seems like yesterday. Bell bottoms, platform shoes, Three Dog Night, riding my bike all over the county, and sneaking a cigarette at the roller rink. I can still hear the crickets from those hot summer nights in my imagination. I miss those carefree days, but not enough to want to relive them.

A two-hour movie is excruciatingly long, while a week-long vacation flies by. Time is a slippery thing and seems to expand and shrink at will. This is especially noticeable when it comes to my children. I remember my pregnancies and bringing home my babies like it was just a few months ago. Their tiny hands squeezing my finger, the baby smell, their first words and first smiles. I remember the seemingly endless nights when they were ill and needed me. Those nights dragged on and on, but the years flew. They’re 35 and 29 now. And my son has a child of his own. How can that be? Where did the time go?

Time’s odd ebb and flow is even more noticeable when it comes to aging. Some days, I feel 26 years old. Most days, I feel just short of 90. It seems like I turned from “Miss” to “Ma’am” to “Dear” overnight. “Dear?” Excuse me? I don’t feel as old as your condescending (or is it coddling?) tone suggests. One day, I looked in the mirror and saw my mother looking back at me. I’m pretty sure that gray hair and those wrinkles were flung upon me by the Old Age Fairy while I slept. And don’t get me started on the mysterious aches and pains. A year or two ago, I could ride 20 miles on my bike and barely break a sweat. Now, I’m lucky to make it three without having sore legs the next day. I used to dance all night, sleep four hours, and jump out of bed for an 8:00am class in college. Now I struggle out of bed after a solid eight hours of sleep with a crick in my neck and a lack of energy that only an urn of strong coffee can fix. The young girl I used to be still screams out in dismay at what I’ve become.

I never really thought that much about time and how it flowed before. Maybe it was triggered today by the store clerk asking me, “Can I help you find anything, dear?”