Time

Sometimes, time passes quickly. It's December 26th--where has the year gone? I'm on 2011 blog post number 362. That sure felt like it added up fast. And by the way, how can it be 2012 already? I remember when we finished up with the '90s and it seemed like a big deal.

Here's what's playing in my head right now--I love this song.

Why does it feel like forever when you're waiting in line at Chipotle to have your burrito made but when it's your turn, everybody's hands are moving like lightning and the coordination is perfect? Suddenly, you're halfway to your car in the parking lot.

Yesterday, I spent nine hours with my family celebrating the holidays. The 1-1/2-hour drive there and back felt longer than the span we spent eating, talking and laughing.

Does life feel different when you're 6 from when you're 60? I've been one and am almost the other, yet I can't really say. A Sunday working on the project for social studies in the 6th grade is interminable but a week at a college campus playing chamber music flies by.

It must have something to do with our perception. As an English major and not a scientist (or a philosopher) I can't say what that might be. Maybe your level of consciousness is somehow involved. Then it can become a matter of increasing your awareness of yourself and the world around you to get the maximum enjoyment and value out of life. Uh oh, we're slipping into scary territory, because it's very hard to say what our purpose of living at all is, and who wants to imagine it over? We're just here. But just maybe, we have something to do here.

I don't know, but I do know I've been very busy, and that doesn't seem to be in danger of letting up soon. That gives life a pleasurable density and a sense of momentum. And I've started to refer to my future as "the third third." That seems to limit me to 90 years, though--that may not be a good idea. 8-)