I had a sudden revelation today… my twenties are rapidly evaporating, and I am teetering on the brink of my thirties. For some reason I thought I’d be a lot more bothered by the loss of my youth, but it wasn’t until today that I even acknowledged that it was happening. I guess a bottle of wine will do that to you… 
Back to my point – I’m getting older. Faster than I ever planned. At this rate I’ll be 80 next week, wondering how my seventies got by me so fast. And it got me wondering about why it is that the older we get, the faster time goes by. And this is what I came up with… for myself at least:
The older we get, the more we appreciate the things we have, the time we spend, the things we see and the people we love. And the more you appreciate, the more aware you are of them slipping away from you. The older we get, the more we realize that we’re human, and that while our faith tells us that we’ll meet again in the afterlife, our intellect is not so sure. We understand that this isn’t forever and that the more we try to keep things the same, the faster they change.
It sounds depressing, but it’s not. Because it’s a testament to our nature; not just that that we can learn enough to understand these things, but that we can learn to embrace them and make every second of the rest of our lives count.
My friend and confidant Jim is 84 years old. Two years ago he was dying of congestive heart failure, while the love of his life (50 years of his life), Annie, died of multiple myeloma (a rare form of cancer), at home, under his care. I didn’t expect he would make it through the following months, but instead of succumbing to his pain and his loss, he has gone on to thrive in spite of it all. A pacemaker operation and you’d think the guy had regressed 30 years… seriously.
Years ago, when his Annie was an artist, Jim photographed every piece of art she ever produced, and saved the 35mm negatives. Today his home is a museum of her life’s work, and he is surrounded by her ever-present memory… something which gives him great comfort, and strength and drive (yes, drive) as he heads into the late years of his life (he knows he’s there, this is not news to Jim).
Jim is driven in all that he does – in his preservation of Annie’s work, the transcription of his own works (he was formerly a biologist and writer), and in all of the other various pursuits that he takes on, including his continued role as a father, grandfather, great-grandfather, proud owner of a new puppy, and amazing friend. Jim’s crazy love for this life, even at his age and after all he’s lost, makes me realize that age really is just a number. And that regardless of what you have to be sad about, you have a dozen others to rejoice.
Tomorrow I might wake up, remember that I hate getting old and wish away the lines that I can see starting on my face. But they’re there because I’ve been laughing for 30 years, and right now, I love every one of them as much as I love Jim.
Thank you my friend, for all that you’ve taught me.
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I am not even 30 yet and I do know what you mean. I am not that far away, though, I am 26 turning 27 in a few months. There are times that I sit back and wonder where the time has gone and what have I really done? I am only 27 but still time seems to fly by so fast these days. I think after I broke up with my ex last year it really hit me. We spent over three years together and that long with someone you start thinking of life more into the future. Once that ended, I had to rethink my position on life and where I was going and where I wanted to go.
It all comes down to living a good life and and being happy with what you have and what you have done at the end of the day. As Socrates wrote, “He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.”
I completely agree with you… the older we get, the faster time seems to slip away. And yes, that quote just about sums it up. Thank you for that.
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