Back in the day we had time, and that time was delivered by clocks.
There were clocks all around us.
The round one on the school room wall. The one on your mother’s old giant stove. The fun Kit Cat Klock with his tail marking the seconds.
The one on your alarm clock radio, the cuckoo and the clock in that cool new two-toned car your father just bought. And our watch.
One of my favorite clocks was always the one the white rabbit ran through wonderland carrying while screaming about being late. Perhaps our most effective reminder about how important it is to show up on time. At least it was for me. Let’s face it, why would a bunny rabbit be so agitated unless it really meant something? That’s how I saw things.
We had all kinds of reminders about time. Clocks, what time the Mickey Mouse Club started and why it was so important to rush home to watch American Bandstand. The fact time was an important factor in our lives wasn’t lost on us. Not dawdling while walking to school was planted in our brains.
Of course, when you’re young there is a different concept of time.
It seemed the school year simply crawled by at a snail’s pace. Summer vacation always looked eons away. Sadly, summer vacation seemed to move more quickly.
At a certain age that all changes.
I’m not certain if awareness comes slowly. The realization that time is beginning to pick up speed. One day you wake up and say what the hell happened to the past year? I swear it was just here. I know I was actually living in it and then, poof it just vanished into thin air.
Or do we gradually just acclimate to the fact the days are shorter and the months are passing quicker than they once did?
Whichever it is, we are suddenly faced with the fact we are growing older at supersonic speed. When we look back at years gone by, it amazes us how fast we’ve come to this one.
Yes, for some reason we find ourselves talking a great deal to our friends and family about how fast it’s all going. How long ago the past seems to us.
Probably because we have so much more past to remember today.
Our brain becomes adjusted to remembering things that happened thirty years ago and much slower to remember last week. Could that be because what was now means so much more to us.
I’m not talking in terms of living in the past and not be aware of the now. Suddenly, all the things we did and were able to do before creep into our memories like photos on one of these movable picture frames.
Remembering those who’ve left seems more essential to keep them alive.
Yet we realize how important it is to embrace the present. To be in the now and not squander the time we have left.
So although we haven’t the energy or will to move through life as quickly as we once did, we find ourselves facing leisure guilt.
If we choose to stay at home and relax while watching a favorite movie, is that a waste of time? Shouldn’t we be out running around creating new memories at breakneck speed while we still have the time?
What exactly does embrace the now really mean? And should it be the same in our older years as it was in our youth. Yet isn’t everything a memory?
Of course it’s true there is much more that needs to be done when we’re young.
Our lives are filled with stuff to accomplish each day. School, work, raising children, meetings, chauffeuring the kids about, cooking, cleaning and falling into bed at night exhausted from the day’s activities.
Then suddenly we’re living in a time when we can pick and choose what and how to spend those hours.
It’s now our choice to golf, pickleball or meet a friend for lunch. Perhaps we should spend more time with our charity work or travel more?
We can fill the hours with the things we want, but we can also choose to simply relax and enjoy doing nothing.
Reading a book, knitting, watching YouTube, chatting with a friend on the phone about how crazy the world has become.
And most importantly spending time with our children and grandchildren.
So what makes the things we used to do more deserving of our time than what we do now?
Probably because the things we do now, except for the thousand doctor appointments a month, are of our choosing.
Not that working or raising a family wasn’t a choice, but it was what we did for the people we loved.
Now how we spend our moments are up to us and for us.
Sure, we still take time to do things for others, after all our children and grandchildren still often need us. But most of the time it’s up to us how we use our hours.
If anything, we are far more aware of the clock than ever. The ticking sound is always there in the back of our minds.
Despite the fact we now use an iphone or computer to tell time in lieu of a Kit Cat Klock, the seconds rush quickly by.
Just like as a kid when we wanted summer to last longer, today we want the years to slow down and stop flying so fast.
Neither then, nor now will what we want change anything.
Father Time is a bitch and no friend to anyone. Oh sure, they dress him up with a long white beard wearing an innocent looking outfit carrying his little scythe.
But he is the ultimate master of deception. The world’s greatest thief.
If I ever run into him I am definitely going to stick that scythe where the sun don’t shine.
Enjoy your day everyone.
NormaZager.com 