Marking time

This year, especially in the last few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about marking time. How does one see and notice time going by and how, in particular, I do that. This also has a lot to do with the round numbers that’ve been part of my life this year, via my birthday and our anniversary.

What I realized as I thought about this on walks and runs and while knitting is that I’ve noticed time having jumped forward this year quite a lot because things we use in our house have broken and needed replacement. Each time this happens, be it a small thing in the kitchen or something larger, I’m surprised because I feel like we haven’t had it that long. Then I take a beat and I realize that we actually have had it for a long time, be it an item I bought while in graduate school or something we got at the beginning of our marriage. It always takes me back a bit when I realize it’s been 20 years or more that I’ve been using whatever it is.

A small thing, but as I age, time moves slowly and then all of a sudden, I’m not quite sure if that’s what happens to others, but it’s been a realization for me at the end of this year. Time moves, but it definitely doesn’t always feel like it does so at the same pace.