Thursday, July 23, 2009

Time Travel

The older you get the more compressed time seems to be. You are incredulous at how long ago something was that seems like just yesterday. "Just yesterday" becomes a phrase synonymous with "sometime recently--I don't know for sure when."

This morning, in an attempt to organize my lesson planning, I sorted through some hanging files begging to be emptied to make room for my intended task. What should I discover but some drawings done in 1987 by my oldest son. He was five at the time. He is now 27! Twenty-two years of life were instantly compressed into "just yesterday"! It doesn't seem possible.

When you get really old sometimes you get confused about generations. My grandmother, as she developed Alzheimer's disease, got my mother mixed up with her grandson's wife. She was off by one generation. My grandfather thought my sister was his wife. He was off by two generations. Someday I may look at my grandson, and those pictures of 1987 will betray me--he will become John again and my travel in time will have made a complete circle.

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