by Virginia Mc Veigh

Created on: July 20, 2008   Last Updated: July 21, 2008

Life (Time) goes by too fast.
While pondering over this phenomenon, the words of an old song came into my mind: Time goes by so slowly and time can do so much. Well I do know that time can do so much just have to look in the mirror some mornings especially after a long night on the town. No more bouncing up as fit as a fiddle and fresh as a morning spring and feeling the urge to sing "I feel Pretty." Those days are lost and gone forever when the passing of time starts making itself felt, starting approximately in the late 30's and progressing brutaly as the wheels keep grinding on.

Time is (at the risk of being accused of plagiarism) relative, my dear Watson.
As a child we can't wait for the wonderful annual events which are very exciting, happy times in every child's life, ie Birthdays, Christmas, Easter etc. When answering questions such as "When's my birthday?" "How long is it until Christmas?" there is really no point in replying "In two weeks" "In one month", or "In one year" because to a child's mind this is not fathomable. Unless you can make it clear in some other way, by saying for example , "You have to go to bed four more times and then it's your birthday" you may as well be talking about another millennium. (Not much help either as millennium has also not yet entered into the realms of the imagination or the vocabulary)

What I've noticed about life (time) passing too quickly is that it's out of sync, it's unfair and it's sneaky. Adults want time to pass slowly and children want it to pass quickly to get on to the really good parts so to speak. Except for the long summer holidays, perhaps. What happened to the long summer holidays anyway? Whoosh ... Where did they go? Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, those days of soda and....oops! got a little carried away there... and no plagiarism intended.
It's unfair that we are getting the exact opposite of what we want out of this time illusion.

Also, it is a very sneaky business. Haven't you noticed how time sneaks up on you? One minute you're filling out forms, quite happy to be in the category 25 30. Even 30 39 is not causing much pain. But then the day arrives when you find yourself in the bracket 39-50 and you say to yourself " How did that happen?". (Not going into any further categories for fear of triggering off terminal depression) Also going to skip preposterous offers in the mail for oversized clothing, skin products for mature women , chair lifts and all-in-one burial package deals - because you want to " make sure everything is taken care of"!

Yes, life can sneak up on you, and the years start to fly past at the speed of light, aided and abetted by even your local supermarket. Or how do you explain the custom of stocking the shelves in late August and 90 degrees in the shade, with cheerful chocolate (melting) Santas, only to be followed a few weeks before the last of the Christmas cookies have been polished off, by Easter Bunnies and bright colourful eggs to speed in the Easter season.

Everything is relative. This is especially true of time and the way life seems to go by too quicky. Time flys when you're having fun , as the saying goes. Just ask anybody having the time of their life in the dentist's chair when he comes at them with the hook and you'll know what I mean.

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