“Where does the time go? It seems like yesterday that she was just a puppy.”
No, it doesn’t. That was 12 years ago, and a year is a long time. Even yesterday was a long time ago.
“But doesn’t it seem like —?”
Do you know how very long a day is? Or an hour? Here’s an idea: I’m going to set a timer and I bet you can’t sit still for one minute.
“Oh, come on.”
One minute starts … Now!
“This is silly.”
Shush.
“I see your point.”
Not yet you don’t.
“OK. Dum de de dum dum dum … Now, can we —”
Not yet. Plenty of time.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake —”
Time!
“That was more than one minute.”
Nope. In fact, that was only what I was write with pen and paper in one minute. If we were actually talking, it would have been two or three times as much fidgeting and “oh come ons.”
“And your point is that 12 years is a long time, I get it.”
Actually, my point is that one day is a long time. One hour is a long time. And even one minute takes a while.
“Yes, yes —”
And 12 years is long enough to be born, live a dog’s life, and start slowing down. Do you remember that time when we made that one memory?
“Sure. That was a long time ago — what, 15-20 years, right?”
The dog was 4 years old.
“No!”
Yes. A day is still just as long as it was when a year was a quarter of your lifetime. It just seems shorter because your lifetime has been such longer now.
“All I said was it seems like only yesterday that she was a puppy.”
And all I’m saying is it was almost 4,400 yesterdays ago.
“It seems like a long time after all, when you put it that way.”
So, let’s get going.
“What? Where?”
Wherever we can go in 960 minutes. Whatever we can do in 57,600 seconds. That’s how much time we have each day: 16 waking hours.
“OK. Let’s get busy.”
