Too fast the clock hands turn, how quickly the pages of the calendar fall, time out races the best of us. We experience life moving onward in a blur, constantly changing, and that change remains the only constant. Those who are older seem incredibly ancient. Each day drags by, fooling us into complacency and making us believe that there will be enough time to live, time to love, time to laugh, and even time to weep. Yet silently, those endless days slip quickly past. We celebrate the milestones of youth and adulthood, and then we complete school.
We reach adulthood, and even then, time's map stretches before us. Only occasionally do we see behind the glamour. Our friend moves away, a grandparent dies, and our beloved pet crosses the Rainbow Bridge. Soon come the responsibilities of life: relationships, marriage, a career, and children, transforming us and turning the clock faster. Others in our lives grow older and change. Our parents become the elders, and our siblings look like our parents. Our beloved children grow more quickly than we remember our childhood passing by. Our children's endless hours pass us in the blink of an eye. One minute, they are an infant; the next, they start school only to graduate and move on.
And what for ourselves is much too soon from being cared for by our parents, only to then demand our independence, then caring for our children full circle until we become caregivers for our parents, and, in our turn, our own elder time begins; children grow up with their own lives and families. Our youth is forty, fifty, sixty years ago. Parents pass away. Even those our age and younger leave this plane of existence too soon.
The lights are not bright enough, the rooms are too cold, the stairs are much too steep, our steps become ever so slow, old friends become fewer, and our children and younger relatives check in on us to ensure we're well.
Death surprises or brings relief, whether caused by sickness, age, or passing, and it does not mark our end. Energy in the universe does not get lost, and we continue to exist in the hearts and minds of those who loved us and whom we touched.
We continue through the unexpected and unseen consequences of significant and seemingly inconsequential actions, in the color of our children's hair or the sound and phrasing of our speech from a grandchild, saving pictures and written memories until we become a distant name on someone's family tree.
Yet, as we move on, we maintain the impression that our lives have shaped the world and the people we leave behind. Ultimately, we don't know how much time we have or how many heartbeats or blinks of an eye we will experience. The only thing of importance is to remember we must take every moment as it comes and live it to the fullest, as if it is the only time that we have which it starts and in each day with gratitude and thankfulness. Never say goodbye before you say "I love you" or that you matter to me.
Look for the good in all things. Prepare for the worst. Be your authentic self with integrity in your words and actions; the rest will follow. Love more, hate less, and leave something positive behind everywhere you go. People may come into your life and leave, never to return; others will stay, and some may even return. Time changes everything, and nothing stays the same as it was, especially to us.
Live a life of love and respect for others, giving a hand to those less fortunate to the broken body and spirit, and you will never have to fear the flame or the pit, but we'll have lived a life that makes each day a paradise.
