Time, Time, Time…

Flies.

No. I don’t think so.

“Flies” implies that I can actually see where something is going. Some “thing” flies by. It goes someplace. And even though I may not see the actual place, I have a clue as far as direction and velocity of the thing that is flying by me.

And as far as time goes… nothing could be further from the truth.

I blink and I’m in college. Blink, married. Blink again the kids are in elementary school. Then, one is off to college and the other is in high school. Blink and there goes twenty-odd years of marriage. Blink again and my parents are great grandparents.

And I feel like I didn’t see it all… which is pretty sad.  I know these things happened. I know time “flew.” There are records. Photos. Stacks of tapes… Beta, VHS. Most unlabeled. So the tracks are there, I just didn’t see the direction they came from.

Maybe I was looking to the next “thing”… the next appointment or commitment or event. Maybe while I was waiting for some “thing” to happen, other “things” whizzed by, unnoticed. Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention.  

I read an article about the lost art of conversation. It explained how people are losing their ability to actually sit in a room and talk with another warm body. Yeah, pretty much. We blog our feelings and frustrations while our family sits at their separate computers in their separate rooms and blogs their feelings and frustrations. “I read your blog today. Wow. Nice perspective. I left a comment and reposted.”

We sit in rooms full of people who are on their cell phones, like we are, pressing keys to talk. All of us, losing our ability to spell as we find new and interesting ways to abbreviate our feelings and experiences. Semicolon, right parentheses. Colon, dash, left parentheses, period. Period. Period. Period.

And all the while, we miss things. Things right in front of us.

And time flies.

So maybe during this holiday season, let’s all of us just stop time. Actually, don’t just stop it. Grab it and hold it and keep it in that place where we used to sit and talk, instead of walk and text. That place where a couple keystrokes didn’t make us experts on a topic and worthy to hold electronic court as judge and jury. Where we didn’t pour out our hearts to the blogosphere, but instead shared ourselves with our friends and companions and family. Hold time in that place where “what” we gave was less important than the act of giving. That place where we sat in the same room. With each other. Talking. For hours.

Happy Holidays.