This was at my brother Rich's wedding, probably 1988 or so. In case you can't tell, I'm the one wearing the stylish hot pink tie. That seems like it was a lifetime ago. Or longer. And so very, very much has changed since then.
Time, it seems, is a funny thing. We measure time in terms of our planet's rotation on its axis and rotation around the sun. Those would seem to be relatively constant things. In reality, though, they are not. In fact, they seem relative.
When I was a child, time passed incredibly slowly.
Now, at age 55, time seems to fly by. Except for the fact that, for example, it seems like only yesterday when my brother Chris (first on the left in the picture above) passed away in January 2017. Conversely, looking forward, my plan is to work until about age 65 and then retire. That, in spite of how time at age 55 seems to pass by quickly, seems so very far away.
Maybe time isn't so constant at all. Or more precisely, maybe the thing being measured is constant, but the person doing the measuring isn't. Regardless, these are heady questions that far exceed my pay-grade.
What does seem abundantly true, but yet hard to fully appreciate, is that regardless of how fast (or slow) time passes by, it's probably most important (and for me, the most difficult) to appreciate the moment that we are in, not dwelling on the past or worried about the future. I know this intellectually (I've pretty much read every book written by Eckhart Tolle), but actually practicing it is a different story. I'd like to say that "I've got time to learn that", but who knows if that's actually true. Unlike half-gallon jugs of milk, our expiration dates aren't printed on our side.
In any event, here's to the living years.
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