by Max White

Created on: April 23, 2008

Stop a minute and think about time. It's consistently measured, has been a constant and something you can always count on. Sixty seconds make a minute, sixty minutes turn into an hour, and twenty-four hours will complete a day. This never changes, yet why does it seem like the frequency of the days passing by changes as we get older.

Think back to your youth. Do you remember how long you waited for your birthday to arrive or summer vacation to begin? It took forever and you were pretty sure that day was never going to arrive. I anxiously awaited my 12th birthday with the knowledge that I'd get to have my ears pierced. Although it was a matter of months, I'm pretty sure it took a couple of years to arrive. The milestones piled up and each one was waited with pure impatience. Sixteen years old and getting a driver's license, graduating from high school, then college, it took forever for each of those to arrive. And, I wasn't alone in my interminable wait. My friends were by my side counting the same days and wishing them away.

Then it happened somewhere along the way. Time begin to pass so quickly that I wondered where that day went or how we got to the middle of the month when it was just the first. I can't tell you exactly when it happened. Was it when I had children and the focus was no longer self-centered? I think it comes from the amount of activity that we try to stuff into one day. The busier we are, the quicker the day passes by. Careers, children, spouses, exercise. Each one takes a portion of our day and then it's over. As we climb into bed we wonder where it went and are already thinking about what we have to accomplish tomorrow.

Regardless of how quickly time passes, there are still times in our life when it seems to stand still. We might be well into our 40's yet we feel like we are eleven years old waiting for that twelfth birthday. Sometimes it is life's best moments that we anticipate. This might be our wedding day, the birth of our children or moving into a new house. Other times, it's our worst days that we anxiously wait for. It's so hard to wait for those biopsy results or an elderly parent to pass on. Time stands still and we wonder how we are ever going to make it to the day of reckoning. Yet we do and time goes on.

I often think about the days following my mother's very sudden death. The days were filled with grieving and they seemed to drag on as it was difficult to go through the motions of a normal life when such a big piece was missing. Today, I still think of her often but I have a hard time believing that eight years have passed so quickly. Life goes on and the days pass in the blink of an eye.

Time will remain a constant until the day we die. Generation after generation will pass time much like we are doing today. The activities will change, but they will grow old and wonder where the time went. I ask myself whether time is our friend or our enemy. I don't have an answer to that and I suspect that I'll never really know. I can only plan to embrace each day I'm given. To give love and share a smile with those around me.

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