There
are certain moments of surprise in life that are generated by
the realization of where you are compared to where you were.
Some
of the easiest transitions to use as examples are moving, a new
job, and the progression of a relationship. If you look back over
a five-year period, find that you moved to a new state and bought
a house so you could start your new job and live with your significant
other, that’s a fairly momentous run of changes. (Especially if
you circle the date five years back and you hadn’t even met the
significant other at that time.)
Occasionally,
the mind wanders and I’ll look over a span of years and it seems
like they absolutely whizzed by. Something comes up, I begin thinking
about another date for whatever reason, and it just hits that
the other date was twenty years ago. Other times, the world slows
down, and it feels like two or three times that amount has gone
by. An odd interweaving of perspectives, with the days speeding
up and slowing down in a vision of memories and accomplishments.
Here’s
an innocent example…
In
the summer of 1985, a concert was held. Multiple locations. It
was called Live Aid. One of the comparisons this event received
involved how many performers were taking the stage and the Woodstock
show from 1969. That right there is roughly a 16-year span of
time between the shows, and a lot of folks thought that was an
eternity.
Welcome
to 2021. It’s been 36 years since Live Aid. More than twice as
long between those performances in 1985 and today than between
Woodstock and Live Aid.
Ok.
Maybe that didn’t connect with some of you. Here’s another…
There
are people born in 2000 that have reached the legal drinking age
of 21.
(If
you hadn’t realized that on before, it probably grabbed your attention
and dazed you a bit. Yeah, first time I figured that one out,
stunned.)
There
are times on vacation when a one or two week adventure reaches
the tipping point. You realize it’s passed the halfway mark. Back
to work… back to the real life soon. Even when exciting things
remain, it just never seems to last long enough.
I
think of projects completed with friends. The building of sheds
and decks or the renovations of basements and bathrooms. Seems
like ages in the past. And then, suddenly, it connects that they
were only ten or so years ago. How? How only fourteen years since
the building of a deck when the memories seem so far off in the
distance?
Events
of the past year or two have led a lot of people to the belief
that much has been lost, and that’s not necessarily an argument
without merit. We only get so many loops around the sun to complete
what we can. Every one of them is precious.
And
yet, in the grand scope of things, many of us can turn to the
past and take in quite a view.
There
are some times when I wonder about where I am. Barring some amazingly
unlikely twists, more than half of my life is in the rear-view
mirror. And yet, when I look at the events of the past seven or
eight years, it occurs to me that there is still an awful lot
left to happen.
I
should probably pack.