Time Stand Still - 46 Years Later

As my birthday came barreling towards me this year, I found myself pondering the concept of time. Oh, how it flies by. I can always remember being told how time would pass slowly in my younger years, and pick up speed each and every year as I got older. Truer words were never spoken.

It seems like every year that passes reminds me to focus on the value of time itself. I guess it becomes more readily apparent when you realize that you are starting to get closer to the end of the adventure than the beginning. That’s not meant to sound morbid, but just a conscious acceptance of mortality as I know it.

I can look in the rear view mirror and be bewildered by the range and breadth of experiences I see there. Wow. Is all of that a part of me now? You never really know where you are going until you stop and take a look around you.

Oh if we could just cause time to stand still. Just for a moment.

Time has allowed me to grow, to breath, to expand my horizons. Time has allowed me to be more aware of who I am, and what I bring to the world around me. Some may call that experience, some may call it wisdom, others might call it learning. Time has shown me how to laugh, to cry, to smile, to love, to be present to the raw emotions of life and to embrace who I am in the midst of all of it.

I truly believe that life in general gets better as we get older. Youth is, sadly, wasted on the young. When you are young, you don’t know what time is all about, you don’t tend to have much respect for it, and worst of all,  you don’t know how to appreciate what you have when you have it. There is always tomorrow, right?

I am still learning how to embrace today as the present – the gift. Yesterday is the past, and tomorrow is the future. And I, like countless before me, struggle with breathing in all that I can to make this existence more fulfilling, more peaceful, more contented, more passionate, more remarkable.

The song “Time Stand Still” says it all so well. Although all of the lyrics truly describe the challenge of time and being present, there are certain stanzas that truly resonate -

(Time stand still)
I'm not looking back
But I want to look around me now
(Time stand still)
See more of the people and the places that surround me now
Freeze this moment a little bit longer
Make each sensation a little bit stronger
Experience slips away
Experience slips away

Freeze this moment a little bit longer
Make each impression a little bit stronger
Freeze this motion a little bit longer
The innocence slips away
The innocence slips away... 
 

Oh the truths contained within these words. The only way to do justice to such fine lyrics is to add some music to it. Then, you have an epic summary of time and that experience we call life.

On this day, 46 years ago, my mother gave birth to a bouncing blue-eyed baby boy who for some reason felt obligated to come into the world feet first. I guess I was pushing the envelope from the earliest moments of my existence. Time has watched me meet many challenges, many adventures, many trials and tribulations. But with those 46 years come the realization that my own mortality faces me at each and every step, accelerating rapidly as I gain speed heading down the tracks. Youth is definitely wasted on the young.

Life is about the now, about today, about “the present” and the gift that it is. This is why the passage of time, abruptly, quickly, is so frighteningly fast, so fascinating, and so touching. This is one hell of a ride, isn’t it?

Photo credits: ToniVC