Just yesterday...

I say that all the time! Just yesterday I... And then I stop myself (sometimes) when I realize that yesterday was months ago. Time is that swift. All kinds of phrases express its fleeting quality. "It seems like yesterday..." "I can't believe it has been that long." "a flash in the pan..." "Babies today, graduating from college tomorrow." "Enjoy them while they're young. They grow up so fast."

I was looking at vacation pictures today from two years ago in Germany. It doesn't seem that long. The baby in the pictures can walk and talk and dress herself now. The toddler is in school. The mother probably does not need an au pair ever again.

I was talking to my son about college today. It is such an exciting time of life. For most of us, it's only four years. Poof. Over and done.

Much of our memories are like a blur. The kind where you look at things close by from the side window of a car or train. You can hardly make out what you're seeing. You look at photos of yourself and what you were doing, and they hardly seem real any more. And yet a few stand out vividly. A special moment captured and branded on your mind.

Because, excuse the cliche, life is short, do we try to pack in as much as possible? No. I don't advocate that. The quiet, empty moments are important, too. They give us time to reflect, catch our breath, and renew our reserves for what is to come. We don't want our lives so full, that we don't have time to treasure what we did just yesterday.