Thursday, June 3, 2010

Time Flies

        Yesterday I read a fine  post on how the last ten years for the writer have flown by, yet they have been the most important in his life. I find the passage of time to be more than just interesting. Why does time seem to pass by so rapidly?


        Today is my brother and sister-in-laws 49th wedding anniversary. It only seems like yesterday that we were young people standing at the front of the church for their wedding. What an awful lot has happened since then. They have become great grandparents. What a milestone!


       I retired in 1997. It was an important date in my life as my lifestyle was to change dramatically. I've thoroughly enjoyed my retirement, but it has gone by rapidly.


      Last year I celebrated my 70th birthday. It seemed like a more important birthday than many others. I still feel as if I am the same person I was at say age twenty! At least in my head I still feel like the same person. My body won't let me think that I am still twenty. I enjoy life and have lots of interesting things to do and interesting people to associate with.


     There is  a mathematical reason for feeling that time races by us. When I was five  a year seemed to be forever. When I was eighteen a year seemed like a long time . Ted is 40. One year in his life is 2.5 % of his total life. Ted's son is ten. One year in his son's life is 10% of his son's life. So mathematically the ratios are different so the old person experiences a yea of life as a smaller proportion of his life. Now i know I've lost some people and their eyes have completely glazed over. Future shock explained this to me many years ago and I've  never forgotten it.

      So for Ted and his son and everybody else this is why time seems to fly and I hate to tell you that it will speed up as we age. I hope that all people enjoy life as it passes rather than let life pass them by.