Saturday, May 12, 2007

Time

Wow, I can't believe how quickly the week was spent. Of course, they say that time moves more quickly as you get older. I always thought that was a myth, but my own experience tells me differently. What is it about age that causes the velocity of time to increase? I have a theory.

Watching my (nearly) one year-old, I have noticed that she is aware of everything. Nothing escapes her notice, even if for only a moment. For example, we were driving the other day and she probably noticed: the lush green foliage (gotta love spring), all the flowering bushes and plants, the sparkle of the other clean cars, the smell of the leather underneath her seat, the baby CD playing in the background (seriously, kill me), etcetera. The list could go on forever.

Compare that to what I noticed. How closely the guy behind me was following, whether or not I was going to make the light, thinking about what I wanted to accomplish that day, etcetera.

The fundamental difference between my daughter and I is that I have already seen and experienced everything that she observed on our drive. I may have noticed foliage, flowers, and a snazzy car, but I moved on because it is more of the same. I believe that time moves more quickly as we age because we process our current experience through the filter of past experience. We get flashes of new, but we generally don't appreciate it.

A couple years ago, Sexy Squirrel and I drove cross country. While it didn't last long enough, the new sights, sounds, and people definitely made a difference in how quickly time seemed to be ticking. Also, we didn't worry much about when we would get somewhere, we just opened the moon roof and enjoyed! Also, at the end of it all, we eventually took nearly three weeks off. Now THAT is a real vacation!

I'm sure that there are more elements to it, but that is one Squirrel's view.

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