Time Flies...and a Giveaway!
Lately, I have this sense that time is just flying by faster than I can keep up with it. For example, I knew today was my day to post a blog, but I somehow didn't realize that today was...well, today. I really thought it was still only May 10th.
I was talking with my daughter last night about different things, and she mentioned that she can't believe she'll be starting high school next year, or heading off to college in just four short years. It sort of stopped me in my tracks. Four years? Can that be possible? I know how fast four years can fly by; I've been in my current job for four years, and yet there are days when it feels like I've just started.
I'm currently wrapping up my third book and getting ready to send it to my editor. I started this book at the beginning of February, thinking my May deadline was weeks and weeks and weeks away. I'd have no problem getting it finished on time. Ha! Somebody once sent me a word-tracker spreadsheet, which keeps track of how many words per day you write, and then calculates how many words per day you should write in order to meet your deadline. Even when this wordtracker would warn me that I wasn't meeting the daily word count, I thought, "No problem, I'll make it. I still have weeks and weeks!"
Well, those weeks have come and gone, and the deadline is finally here. I'll finish the book and get it in on time, but this is the first time I've felt that there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. And it's not just the writing. It's spending time with my girls, and finding time to enjoy the small pleasures in life (mmm, like chocolate). And when I look at my daughter and realize she'll only be ours for another four years, I want to stop time. I want to capture every laugh and smile and memory before it gets away.
What about you? Do you feel that time goes by faster with each passing year, or are you able to stop and savor each moment, stringing them together like priceless gems? I'm giving away this beautiful journal from Barnes & Noble, with a small box of chocolates, so that you can capture your memories within its pages while enjoying one of the finest of life's small pleasures...(that would be the chocolate). All you need to do is register with Cigars, and post a comment for a chance to win. But hurry, because...time flies!
When I was younger(a long
When I was younger(a long time ago); it seemed like the day would never end. As I age, there aren't enough hours in the day to get things done. It seems as if the year just starts and it is over.
It sounds corny, but I
It sounds corny, but I distinctly remember being a kid, and lying in the tall grass behind my grandfather's house just listening to the bugs and watching the clouds float by. The summers seemed endless. Now they're compartmentalized into blocks, according to how long summer camp runs, and when we'll take vacation, and when the in-laws come to visit, etc. etc.
Time Flies
Hi Karen,
Time definitely flies by nowadays. We're all so busy with work and life in general that we don't have time to stop and smell the roses. We spend weekends catching up on sleep and running errands, but it would be nice just take a walk in the park or to catch a movie.
Yes, Jane, you're right. My
Yes, Jane, you're right. My perfect day would involve sleeping in, going to breakfast, and then spending the day in a lounge chair next to the water with a good book...and maybe catching a movie. My girls are constantly begging me to take them to the mall, and I'm always resisting. I hate to shop, and it feels like such a waste of time and energy, but when I get them to myself we have such a good time! It makes me realize just how much fun they are, and how sweet, and how much I love being with them. No matter how much money they wheedle out of me, LOL!
time flying by
Oh I so feel the same way; a month starts and in a couple of days I catch myself saying "a whole week is gone by already". So time does fly quicker these days than it used to.
The chocolates are delectable looking and the journal would be great to record history in the making so that I could look back in a few years and read about myself b/c perhaps I won't be remembering much, lol.
I just read a news article
I just read a news article about a woman who apparently can recall her entire life in minute detail. This total recall is rare, and can apparently lead to depression, as the person has a tendency to dwell on all the bad experiences they've had, whereas a "normal" person would try to forget them. So, given the choice, I think I'd rather go into my doddering old age with selective recall, LOL!
So sweet, Karen...
Your daughter will be yours forever, you know. It may seem like you'll lose her, but you won't. I'm still my mom's, even if I'm not quite her little girl anymore.
I do feel like the years go by faster than they used to and I suck at stringing together priceless moments. What I notice is a growing sense of...dare I say it and invite a big karmic smackdown...satisfaction. When I was younger my life and I rubbed edges in a pretty painful way. One of us, or maybe both, has changed, lost those sharp angles that used to hurt so much. So while time's passing faster, it's also better.
Oh, what a beautiful way to
Oh, what a beautiful way to put it, and I'm certain the universe is not planning a karmic smackdown, LOL. My mother says the same thing about daughters...they always return. I guess it's true! I live less than four miles from my parents.
I especially note the
I especially note the passing of time when I look at my boys, who are now in their 20's and settled into their lives and careers. I swear I just blinked and 10 years flew by.
Yes, Cathy, that's about
Yes, Cathy, that's about where I am now. I want to hold onto every moment. I was visiting my parents yesterday. They have a golden retriever who, when he was younger, used to irritate the h*** out of us when we'd come to visit because of his energy and boundless enthusiasm at seeing us. He'd just about knock us down as we came in the door. Now he's almost twelve, and when I opened the door to come in, he didn't even lift his head, just thumped his tail a little in greeting. It made me so sad! I'd give anything to see him crashing around, knocking things over in his joy to greet us.
Time definitely feels like
Time definitely feels like it goes by faster as I get older.
We just spent a year and half down under. We told our friends that the time flew by but it felt like a lifetime.
Some of you know that I was
Some of you know that I was part of a "hatchet" team these past two weeks, doing resource reviews at some of our offices to determine where we could make manpower cuts. I distinctly remember the night before the in-briefing, absolutely dreading the coming week, and telling myself, "Just one day at a time," but wishing the week was already over. And now it's behind me. At the time, it seemed like it would never end. Now, looking back, the two weeks just flew by.
Great post
I agree with you that it seems time flies, especially before a major exam! I still remember like it was yesterday when I used to pray to grow up faster... and now I want time to be slower!
I tell my daughter all the
I tell my daughter all the time not to grow up too fast. Sh's so anxious to do things on her own.
I used to hate when people thought I was younger than my baby sister. Now I like it!
4 years
I agree that 4 years really do fly. It seems like yesterday I was accepted in Med. school and my mom made me realize that in a year I will be finished. I still remember those days when I was younger when I was dreamind of that day and it will be here soon! It is quite frightening!
Oh, you're making me feel
Oh, you're making me feel old...it's been more than 20 years since I graduated from college, and sometimes a song or a certain smell will bring me right back, as if it was yesterday.
It all started when I had
It all started when I had kids. I waited until I was 33 and until then time was very slow. Now it's just flown by. I guess because you see them growing and realize how fast time is going. My oldest is getting married this summer and my youngest is going away to college, off campus so not just for the school year.
Oh, hugs!! I know what you
Oh, hugs!! I know what you mean about the kids...my mother told me that once they reached grade school, the years would just fly past, and she was right. It seems like yesterday I was putting my oldest on the bus to kindergarten and thinking, "Three more years before the little one starts." And now the little one is almost out of elementary school!
Listen to Grandma
My mother gets upset when I talk about my 3-year-old getting older. She insists I will miss the current stage and won't like it as much as the next stage. While I will admit, 3 is a bit tough, I am also enjoying it. I am doing my best to enjoy what the toddler has to offer. Funny stories, dancing with the Roomba, unintelligible songs and all the other toddler oddities. I do miss being able to cradle him and his tiny-ness.
Being stressed makes the days longer. The fun days are the ones that go quickly. I am sure I will look back on his first day of college and wonder where the time went.
Yes, I get that a
Yes, I get that a lot...enjoy every age, because they're all great (okay, I'll admit that 13 wasn't so great with my oldest, but 14 has been fabulous). I miss kissing baby cheeks...and at 5'8", my 11-year old is too big to cuddle, but I make her do it anyway!
summer!
Yeah, summers used to last forever. Now everything flies by, and I try hard not to do too much during the summer!
I read somewhere once that the reason time passes so slowly when we're kids is because proportionally, we've only used a small bit of our lives, but as you get older, you get closer to the end and therefore, have less time to use.
Does that make sense? Haha. I think not. It's bed time!!!
m
Read in bed!
www.meganhart.com
No, that makes perfect
No, that makes perfect sense, Megan. I just don't want to think of myself as getting nearer to the end. How can that be?? I still feel like a kid sometimes.
Sigh. Me too. Mostly I feel
Sigh. Me too. Mostly I feel about 15.
m
Read in bed!
www.meganhart.com
Time Flies
Yes, the older I get, the more time flies by faster. Don't know where it went to. It seems like I was just a young mother and now my kids are 34 and almost 38. My daughter (34) is presenting us with our first grandbaby in November. We are so excited.
When I was a kid, it seemed forever for Christmas Day to arrive. I know everyone feels the same way.
Absolutely, Pat. My
Absolutely, Pat. My daughter's birthday is Dec 18th, so her entire year is a countdown toward December, when she hits both big events within a week. She says the year goes by so slowly...we did start having a half-birthday celebration for her in June, just to stretch it out a bit.
Time, time. . .it's what makes cats out of kittens....
Sorry, that's (weirdly) one of my favorite quotes from an epi of BtVS. LOL
My Dad, who's 88, has a saying -- whenever I am impatient or waiting for something, or wish something was over, he'll say "don't wish your life away" -- it's something that comes back to me when I'm waiting on mss results, etc. Anything where I wish waits would pass more quickly. Helps me realize I don't want that time to pass any faster than it has to. I think it's the advantage of having a much older person in the family that they can give you that perspective of having been around for a loooong time.
I feel the quickness and the expansiveness of time often at the same time -- I don't know how to explain it. Like with me and Mike, we'll be together 14 years this year, and it feels like it's been the blink of an eye. Until I realize how much has happened to us and how much we've done and how far we've come in those 14 years -- when I think of that, it's like, wow, we have all this *history*...it's kind of cool.
Sam
Sam, you're right. My
Sam, you're right. My husband sort of looks at me like I'm crazy when I say our 20 years together has flown by. He tends to chunk his time together according to events; the first 5 years were spent in Europe, the next 5 years spent having babies, the next 5 years were spent renovating the house; etc. When I think back on those distinct events, it does seem like a lot of time has passed...like it happened to somebody else.
:(
Oh, man...now you've got my thinking about my own kids...again. My oldest is only eight, but it just hit me not that long ago that he's halfway to driving already. And my youngest, who is two, already knows her ABCs and will be in school before I know it. So sad. So scary. Where does time go?
I've actually been thinking that I should start journaling, not just to savor the days as they so quickly pass, but simply as a form of meditation/relaxation. I haven't done it since I was in high school, so Lord knows, I could use the outlet!! :)
PRECIOUS TIME
Yes, time does fly as you get older. It is so fleeting that before you know it your children are grown up, have left home and are on their own and it feels like they were just babies. That is how it feels to me and each year goes by more quickly even though I want to enjoy and savor every single moment.
HOLD ON TIGHT
I think that every single day that passes is to be appreciated since life is too short. When I had my babies it seemed that each day was forever, but that changed overnight when they were independent and I was free to do as I pleased. Time does pass by so fast that sometimes a month is gone in a blink of an eye.
ELUSIVE TIME
When I was much younger time did not seem to fly by as it does now. Each day is like a minute and the years just have flown away. Even if we had known when we were younger it does not resonate until much later in life. A time machine would capture the elements that were memorable.
Sassa, my biggest regret is
Sassa, my biggest regret is that we didn't do videos of the kids when they were small. Somebody (my nephew, I think) took a video of Caitlin's 2nd birthday, when she got a kitten and I love watching it, tho it makes me a little sad that those precious days are gone.
Time Flys
It seems that time flies by for me. When I was a child, time seemed to go by slowly and now it seems that there is not enough time in a day.
CELEBRATE TIME
I know that time flies by for me and has for many years. I see it each day and am amazed. Proof is when I realize I am getting older and my children are self sufficient. It was not this way when I was young, but we do not view life in quite the same way.
It appears to me that the
It appears to me that the older I get the faster time flies because I am no longer able to do things I use to do at the rate I use to do them. (Make sense??)
Definitely faster...
Hi, Karen,
I definitely feel like time's zipping by more quickly now, maybe because it's harder to find time to savor the present and even to capture it--I used to journal almost daily, and that's tapered off with the kids. I still did when I only had one child, and that trickled to once every couple months with two, and maybe once a year with three. And it's hard to do that--if I even crack open that journal and pick up a pen, I feel this pressure to capture everything that's happened since the last time I did, which is of course impossible! I know I should just do what I can, because anything is better than leaving the pages blank ;)
Anyway, time's a funny thing--my kids are starting to learn what time can mean. My oldest is beginning to understand that an hour can be an eternity when you're waiting for something or doing homework but it can fly when you're playing games or doing something fun with a friend...
Thanks for the reminder to savor the moments now! Glad your two weeks flew by and you're back home to enjoy the time with your girls and husband!
Oh, thanks, Fedora! I used
Oh, thanks, Fedora! I used to keep a journal...but I tended to put things in there that I was afraid might be read by others and get me in trouble, LOL. So now, I keep an informal, infrequent blog, mostly about things that stand out in my life, and mostly for my dad. For some reason, he thinks I'm amazing, and loves to live vicariously through my random ramblings. But just knowing that it's a blog that can be read by anyone (or just my dad) helps me to keep it clean, LOL. But I like going back and rereading some of the entries, just to keep the memories fresh.
Same Here
I feel the same way. I have a 4 year old boy and an 19 month old girl and it seems like I am always behind on everything that needs to be done. Just seems like there are never enough hours in the day. Never enough sleep as well so I feel tired most days. I know I need to savor all the special moments with them because some day they will be grown and gone but there are some days I just don't have the energy as well as the time. So I just do the best I can and make time when I can.
Hey...you definitely have
Hey...you definitely have your hands full! Those are wonderful ages...savor them, but don't forget to do nice things for yourself, too.
SPEEDING TIME
Since we cannot slow down the hands of time, which I sometimes would like to do, especially so these past few years, I just have to accept the inevitability of accepting the speeding away of time. When we are young we don't even think about it but as our children grow up and become independent individuals that is when we are faced with the way time rushes past us. I enjoyed reading about spending time with your daughters which is wonderful and you will cherish.