Time stops for no one.
Time flies.
Time crawled by.
Time stood still.
I was changing the sheets on our bed a couple days ago (which I have to say I very rarely do–my dear wife is the regular changer) when I was startled by how old our new mattress looked. I remember buying that mattress like it was yesterday. We sprung for a good one–wanted something that would hold up for a lot of years without sagging, so we bought the nice mattress with the matching box spring. As I stood there looking at that new, old looking mattress, I realized it was 15 years old. What happened to the time? Is this some kind of joke? Why would I want to buy something new if it’s going to end up old in a few days and be 15 years old to boot?
I find myself saying and doing things that old people do: “Wow, look how she’s grown”, “when I was a kid....”
I visited an elderly lady in the hospital today who suffered a broken rib, broken wrist and cut eye from having blacked out and fallen down. She’s 89 and sharp as a tack. Nurses and other aides came in the room and asked her questions as if she was senile or perhaps stupid because she was old. It was amusing to see her respond in such a way that it was clear she knew more of what was going on than they did. I found myself hoping that I age as gracefully as she has–she said in some ways that these are the best years of her life, wow.
CS Lewis asserted that the way we express our surprise at the speed of time–both slow and fast–is an evidence of its created nature. Now I can’t figure out how you could do life or even exist without time, but that’s part of the trap of living within time. It’s like asking a fish what it’s like to live without water........... sort of.
It certainly is an adventure growing older, especially since I’m at the point in life where I’m losing more than I’m gaining (unless gaining weight counts). It makes me grateful that there is a life beyond this one where the intrusion of time will not affect my body or mind.