The Passage of Time

At work, I have one of those "Book-a-Day" desk calendars and each morning, after turning on my computer, as it whirls to life, I remove the previous day's page, read the book suggestion/description and then either add it to a growing pile in my "junk" drawer  (yes, I even have one of those at work) so I have a go-to list of books to read, or toss it.

This time of year, however, I can't help but notice the number of remaining pages getting less and less -- and when this happened the other day, two thoughts popped into my head:  I want to get another one of these for the coming year, and then -- "wow, look at how much of this year is already gone."

I knew the date, of course, and that the calendar year was coming to an end, but it took that dwindling pile of paper pages to bring mindfulness to the knowledge, and true awareness to just what the passage of all that time has meant to me personally.

The old adage "the days are long but the years are short" came to mind as I realized just how fast this past year has gone by, and all that has transpired.

I marked 11 years at my current job; my uncle died very quickly and unexpectedly; my cousin announced she and her husband of over 15 years are getting divorced; my mother ended up in the hospital after a very severe and dangerous reaction to a new drug she was prescribed for a chronic condition that she suffers from; I turned 50; one of my two cats died at the age of 15, and the other turned 17; several friends and a cousin of mine had children start their first year of college.

I remember very clearly when those kids were toddlers; marking other landmark birthdays (21, 30 and 40) and how far away and old 50 had seemed back then; I had just brought that cat home for the first time; my uncle was one of the healthiest and most vibrant people I knew; my mother had been totally healthy; and going on my job interview for my present position with a mix of excitement, nervousness and hope.

The years are short and things are always changing, and in these days of techie gadgets to wake us up, give us weather and news updates and tell us what the time and date are, I'm glad for that old-fashioned, old-school Book-A-Day calendar that forces me to look at the date each morning and mark, in a physical and concrete way, the passing of time.

The calendar was a gift. You know those gift bins at every department store this time of year loaded with things people would never buy themselves that make gift buying a bit easier for those that don't know what to get a friend, co-worker or family member -- car weather or cleaning kits, bath baskets, coffee and tea baskets, nose hair trimmers, travel kits, flashlights and -- (insert interest area here)-a-Day calendars.

Well, sometimes those "desperation" gifts as we've all sometimes called them, and let's be honest, have purchased for someone at least once, end up being something even more than just practical or useful.

I'm going to wait to see if I get another one this Christmas from someone, and if I don't, I'll be hitting the discount bin somewhere to purchase one for myself, because that gift has been one I used, and ended up getting a lot of enjoyment from -- some great, otherwise unknown books for my reading list -- and a reminder that time waits for no one and is going by every single day.