Time flies

Time is something I think about often nowadays.

In my childhood, I remember the summers lasting a lifetime and school years lasting an eternity. Each one (especially the school year) seemed to go on forever. The days were long. The hours filled with many activities.

When I entered high school, my school switched to a block schedule. That's when I first recall time 'speeding up.' Instead of spending a bored eternity in 7 classes each day, I was only trapped in 3.5 bored eternities. Counting off finished classes was much easier, and when the whole class was spent in a daydream about not being in class it didn't matter if I was in the class for a little longer or not. The school year went by in a blaze.

Time shifted into a higher gear again when college started. The classes were less frequent; the semesters shorter; the breaks longer. Oh, there were definitely bits that dragged. I had more free time than I used to though, and without needing to wake up at the crack of dawn I would sleep longer and later (as a freshman, my earliest class was at 1:30 PM three times a week..which I did oversleep and show up late to a couple of times).

Working full-time provided another boost to Father Time's pace. In my last year of college, I was working full time as a substitute teacher (35hr/wk) and part time at the regional library as a page (20hr/wk). The expectations were very low and easy to exceed, but I enjoyed the work (at least some of it) and the company. My friends and I found plenty of adventures and games in the off hours as well.

Becoming a full teacher upped the expectations, my efforts, and ate up more of the day. Somewhere along the way, I got in the habit of counting down periods of the day, days of the week, and even weeks in the year. I'm a math nerd, so I'd even calculate progress in fractions and what percent each period of time was worth. This had the effect of making time feel like it was slipping by even faster. On a daily work basis, this was welcomed! Still, I felt like there wasn't as much time in the day as there used to be.

When Carrie got pregnant, I wondered what I used to do with all my spare time! Then Shane arrived and I wondered how I could not have mastered at least a couple foreign languages in the time Carrie was pregnant! My little man eats up much of my day playing and pooping. Some hundred veteran parents told me "The days are long, and the years short."

Boy, were they right.

There are times when I count every minute until nap time. Shane will be tired, fussy, and highly resistant to the idea. Napping would be the best thing for him, but he's sure that the moment he goes to sleep the real fun will start. At those moments, you can imagine how slow time crawls. However, I am always amazed when I look at baby pictures. Shane sprouts inches in every one. It's shocking how fast he's developed. If I had a choice, the days would shorten, but the weeks would lengthen! What's it going to be like when Shane's older, or (Heaven allow) I become a grandfather one day? Does time slow down again, or does it keep accelerating at a breakneck pace?  I know it's not actually going any faster, but maybe I've had too much practice at passing the boring bits.

Just a Shane's-nap-time-musing.