As the year 2015 begins to unfold, the notion that “time flies” again becomes ever more prevalent. Sentences that begin with the words, “It seems like just yesterday when..” will never seem to cease. And yet, that is the peculiar characteristic of time. It passes. And because of that, one cannot help but compare what is, to what was and what will be…
Its Saturday morning and slowly you awake and rise. Not slowly because you ache with pains of age but because when you were young you seemed to move with life, and life seemed to move a lot slower. You come to your feet and first peek through the window to check if today will be a great day to play…outside. Oh, but not yet. First things first. Off to the kitchen to introduce your favorite sugary cold cereal to the biggest bowl known to mankind. A lake of milk poured and your live action spoon dipped, nirvana has only just begun. All that’s left are the cartoons waiting to entertain your youthful mind and motivate your inevitable afternoon. So you plop down, on stomach, close enough to the telly that you can actually see the pixels. But hey, that’s the sweet spot! And you munch, eyes glued, worry free. But you don’t stay in that spot for long, for you know something great awaits you beyond the door of your home. An adventure. You finish your morning ritual and reluctantly take your bowl back to the kitchen, although you know it would have been more time efficient to leave it where you were. But you fear the wrath of the “Mum”. So you comply. Back to the lair you go to prepare yourself for your voyage beyond. Shorts, check. T-shirt, check. Favorite moonboots (trainers), check. And your companion of choice, for me it was a pair of home made nunchaku. For you, maybe it was different. Maybe. Anyway, off you go! And once you open the front door (see: Gateway to Land of Outright Awesome) the world seems to become animated right before your eyes. Lizards become aliens who need their tails removed before they transform into monsters, passing cars become spaceships that whiz by en route to black holes (unless the car had a certain je nai sais quoi, then in that case, “that’s my car”). And no voyage was complete without your comrades. Partners in crime who only rivaled you in imagination and appetite. Time seemed to almost stand still then. By the time we had to go back to headquarters, aeons would have passed. But know worries, Sunday held promise of even greater exploration. But for now, a hyperspace hibernation is in order (sleep).
What about these days, though? We’ve grown up (against better judgment) but children still do things children want to do. However, what they want to do now seems a bit unusual. Telly time seems to extend into the late afternoon, and friends to come over to play. But its on a video game of some sort. Imagination is almost all but completely traded in for Xbox and PS4. Some things never change, though. Sugary cold cereal still rules the morning and cartoons will forever be the weekend tutor. So for now, the lizards are the only ones outside elated that time passes, because they get to keep their tails around this new generation.
But what of future childhood memories? Who knows. I will just be glad to be alive then to see them experienced. To be able to see time pass…
