The Days Go Rushing By

Today I went online to find a person from my very distant past, only to find that they had passed away.   Unfortunately, the older we get, the more this happens.   Life is so incredibly short, and when you are a kid, or a teenager, or even a twenty-something, you hear older people say that and you don't believe it.  You're not sure what they're talking about.  When you are young, time goes by so slow, the minutes and the hours drag on relentlessly.  The days and the weeks are endless.  It feel like ages just to get from fall to winter.   As an adult, time just keeps going by faster. 

In the autumn days of my younger years, time was slow and my mind was always drifting.  I would get in trouble for not paying attention in class.  My punishment was to stay in at recess....

While winds were blowing out on the playground, I was toasty warm inside. The room was peaceful and I would catch up on my work while listening to the comforting sound of staples being pushed into corkboard as my teacher attached orange and yellow construction paper leaves to the bulletin board. One day of time then is like one month of time now.

When long months stretched out in front of me, I feared that I would be small forever.  When seasons seemed to last for years, I hoped that the leaves would stay gold forever.  It felt like those days might go on forever.