How is it that the older one gets, the faster time passes? When you’re a kid, time moves at a snail’s pace. Waiting for summer or your next birthday seems to take forever. The words, “How much longer?” escape the lips of every child. “Faster! Faster! Hurry up!” is the mantra of youth. Before you know it, the adulthood that seemed so far away is at your doorstep.
Childhood gives way to child-rearing. Either you’re having children or everyone around you is. Time picks up speed. The same birthdays you couldn’t wait to have for yourself, you now wish you could keep at bay from your own children while also wishing you could dodge your next one. “How much longer?” turns into “Slow down.” Awareness of not only your age but those around you comes into focus. Rushing to the next thing in life, whatever it may be, begins to hold less value. You start to hold onto the “present,” not the presents, a little tighter.
An understanding that time is your most valuable currency and to squander it is to waste it takes shape. Time can only be spent, whereas money can be earned, saved, spent, gifted, and replaced. The idea of forever is now laughable. You understand that forever was never yours to have. The reality that there will always be firsts but also lasts sets in. Birthdays are meandered to, not rushed upon. “Slower! Slower” is the mantra of aging. “How much longer?” becomes the question again, but this time the curiosity is without urgency. Prolonging the journey is of utmost importance. Tomorrows are no longer taken for granted because you finally realize tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. How you fill your undetermined time in life becomes a mission. “How much longer?” matters less the how and with whom.
