“Time”
Do you have the time? Is this the time? How many times? When will it be time for_____? Time marches on so slowly…..time flies right by! Time for a change. What time is it? “It’s Howdy Doody Time!”
Time: What a wonderful word and elusive, abstract concept!
Great philosophers have asked if there really is such a thing as time, or is it just a man-made commodity, created to give us something by which to measure things such as our days, our nights, our very lives?
No matter, whatever it is, to us time is very real. Just look at the great variety of expressions in which we use the word “time”, for example! But, if we had to define time at all, what would we say as individuals? By what do we measure, or mark time?
For me, it is the growth of children! I’ve often said that if a person wants a real yardstick of the passage of time, look at a friend’s baby or child. Newborn, a baby nestles in his parents’ arms, safe and secure from the bumps and bangs of the world. Within a year, the baby sits up, starts trying to feed himself, and smiles at his family members with happy abandon. By age two, he has usually taken his first steps, if fortunate enough to be of good health, has a vocabulary of at least a few words, and is able to toss his baby bottle across the room with glee. Two years later, he is having full-blown conversations with others, telling with great relish stories about his puppy dog, or his new baby sister or brother. Blink your eyes—don’t see your friend for a few more years – and the child has grown into a pre-teen-ager! The next time you may see your friend and his family, the child may have graduated from high school My, how the time has flown!
But, time can also turn into molasses and barely inch its way across the fabric of our lives! I remember one job I had, as the Receptionist at an airport, where quitting time was 5 p.m. Since I was the principal phone contact, it was imperative that I leave not one minute sooner than 5 p.m. You never knew who might be calling with a question about a flight, or lost baggage, and so on. I can recall that I hated, above all other times in my life, the specific time of 4:55 p.m. The ensuing five minutes were the absolutely longest minutes of my life! I would sit and virtually stare at the clock, trying to will the second hand to move faster with my mind’s help – all to no avail. Tick by tick, the slender hand would move toward it’s goal of the number 12, only to move past it again, make another circuitous route and do so until at last, and with agonizing slowness, the little hand would finally land on ‘5’. Oh, my God, but those were the slowest minutes and seconds of my life!
Yet, here it is so many years later and all I did was blink my eyes!
Cleaning off my desk yesterday, I came across last year’s Christmas card and letter from our dear friends, Brian and Christine, from our home town back in NY. As always, there was a lovely and current picture of their four children. At first, 11 years ago, there were just the twins, darling little 2 year old orphan girls from China. Then, there was Tommy a year later – a real surprise natural child. Two years later, there was Danny, another Chinese orphan. Looking back at me from the photograph was a group of four young people that just took my breath away! The girls are now teen-agers and the boys all baseball and soccer players, happily sporting their uniforms. The passage of Time once again rapped me on the head: “Look!”, Time goaded me. “While you were busy doing your things, look at what I did!” Time said with a grin. Until I looked at that photo, I had forgotten how much time had passed!
It’s time I wrapped up this essay. Thank you for your time in listening to it, and I promise that the next time, my essay will be shorter!
*the word “time” was used 31 times in this piece!*
