Where Did Time Go?

Not long ago my sister gave me an old picture of the church baseball team I played on. I sat there looking at it for a while, looking at the faces and remembering those days. It honestly seems like yesterday.

I know, I know, don't say it. It wasn't yesterday. I know.

But seriously, I don't remember time going by this fast when I was younger. Summers seemed to last forever. The school year seemed to last forever. Christmas took forever to get here. And it seemed like I was never going to make it to 18.

Now I can lose five years without hardly noticing. The year is over before I really get moving. Maybe it's just me at the age I am, but somehow the years don't seem nearly as long as they used to.

That old baseball picture got me thinking about some of the others I've collected over the years. I can look at pictures of my kids when they were little and remember those days like they just happened. Now they're grown.

Then there are pictures of my parents and my wife's parents. They're gone now, but when I look at those pictures, it doesn't feel like all those years have passed either. For a moment, everybody is still right there where I remember them.

It all seems like yesterday.

Maybe it isn't that time went by so fast. Maybe part of me just wishes I could have some of those days back. Not to change anything. Just to be there again for a little while.

The funny thing is, even when I got older and had kids of my own, I still wasn't thinking about time. I was busy living. There was always something that needed doing and somewhere we needed to be.

I remember my parents telling me that the kids would grow up quick. I heard them, but I don't think I really understood what they were telling me.

Maybe they weren't just talking about the kids.

Maybe they were trying to tell me something about time way back then.

Now I get it.

Well, I don't know where all those years went. Maybe that's why an old picture can stop me for a while. For a few minutes, I'm not thinking about how many years have passed. I'm just remembering the people and the times that don't seem nearly as far away as the calendar says they are.

Then I look up and realize I've been sitting here thinking about all this for the last ten minutes.

Daggummit.

There went some more of it.